February 9, 2010
Last Karmann leaves factory as firm folds
Published: 22 Jun 09 16:05 CET
Online: http://www.thelocal.de/money/20090622-20123.html
Sports car manufacturer Karmann has produced its last vehicle, which left its factory on Monday, amid a row between management and unions over the reasons for its insolvency.
- China claims Germany's export crown - Business & Money (9 Feb 10)
- Opel boss unveils plan to slash 8,300 jobs - National (9 Feb 10)
- Public worker strike drags on in wage dispute - National (8 Feb 10)
It went bust last week and has had to switch its focus to car parts production in order to stay in business, although there is confidence that a restructuring can save it.
“We could no longer avoid shutting down the vehicle assembly line because auto manufacturers’ strategies have changed,” the company’s administrator Ottmar Hermann said.
More than 2,000 people work for the firm, based in Osnabrück, but relations between management and unions has been seriously damaged by recent events.
According to the Financial Times Deutschland on Monday, a row has broken out over why the company collapsed, with management naming the social provision for workers as the decisive factor.
A company spokesman told the FTD that 2,240 workers had been given their notices, and that the agreed social plan to help them was going to be cancelled, as there was no money to pay for it.
Hartmut Riemann, of the IG Metall union said: “It is outrageous that the insolvency should be blamed on the social plan costs, when they are not even paying severance pay.”
He said the company had not even ensured that full wages would be paid during the workers’ period of notice.
A company spokesman told the FTD that it had spent nearly a year trying to find a buyer for all or part of the firm.
AFP/The Local (news@thelocal.de)
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