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MAN employees show Wolf the red card
Would you rather be unemployed than work under Siegfried Wolf? In any case, the employee vote on the takeover offer from the ex-MAGNA boss was clear: 64 percent of the approximately 2,200 employees at the MAN plant in Steyr spoke out against it. Now MAN is resuming its closure plans.
MAN employees show Wolf the red card
Siegfried Wolf actually wanted a two-thirds majority behind him, but in fact almost two thirds of the workforce at the MAN plant in Steyr voted against his takeover plans.
The voter turnout was high: 2,356 MAN-Steyr employees were eligible to vote, and 2,188 valid votes were cast. This corresponds to a voter turnout of 95 percent. Exactly 63.9 percent of the votes were against the transfer of the plant to WSA Beteiligungs GmbH from ex-MAGNA boss Siegfried Wolf under changed framework conditions, 34.9 percent were in favor (1.2 percent voted invalidly). At 71.4 percent, the rejection rate among leasing employees was reportedly even higher than among the permanent workforce.
Disappointment in Munich
“The Management Board of MAN Truck & Bus notes this development with disappointment” can be read in the company’s first reaction to the voting results. As a result, MAN is now resuming plans to close the Steyr plant by 2023, according to a release. In the next step, the social plan will have to be renegotiated, as the current status was linked to the takeover by WSA.
“I can only acknowledge this vote today with great regret,” said Siegfried Wolf, according to a report by orf.at. “My team and I have put an incredible amount of heart and soul into this project because I am convinced that with this potential of know-how in vehicle production at this location, something new and big could have been created under the Steyr brand.” Unfortunately, he was unable to provide enough information and persuasion to refute misinterpretations. Wolf's plan called for around 1,250 of the current permanent workforce of almost 1,900 people to be taken on, although they would face a reduction in their net income of up to 15 percent. According to the works council at the plant in Steyr, the cuts would have been too severe.