Lannach site

Magna Powertrain has to lay off 200 employees

Magna Steyr is not getting out of its difficulties.

(Bild: APA/ERWIN SCHERIAU)

A hard blow for the employees of Magna Steyr: On Monday, 200 employees of Magna Powertrain at the Lannach site were reported to the AMS for dismissal. It is the continuation of strict measures that have to be taken due to the poor order situation.

It is the next piece of bad news for the automotive giant Magna: after severe setbacks in orders for e-cars, layoffs are now imminent once again. 200 employees at the Magna Powertrain site in Lannach, Styria, were reported to the AMS for redundancy on Monday. The employees have already been informed of this.

The fact that the manufacturer of transmission and drive systems is cutting jobs did not necessarily come as a surprise. Measures were already announced last year, and in April of this year the Graz plant had to say goodbye to 500 employees due to the poor order situation.

"Destruction of the business location by the ÖVP and Greens"
The weakening economy and the unsuccessful e-car business are to blame. For example, motors for Fisker were to have been produced in Lannach, but the e-car company subsequently slipped into bankruptcy. However, motors for the electric G are still being produced there.

Mario Kunasek, Chairman of the Styrian FPÖ party, attributes the redundancies to the "destruction of the business location by the ÖVP and the Greens". KPÖ party leader Claudia Klimt-Weithaler says: "In a situation like this, I expect the governor to finally take the initiative and develop a plan together with the works council, the Magna board and the Austrian Trade Union Federation (ÖGB) to reduce dependence on the struggling automotive industry and open up new production areas."

According to "Kurier", insiders at Magna Powertrain suspect that as many as 1,000 jobs could be cut at six of the subsidiary's sites. There is also speculation that as many as 2500 of the 7000 jobs at Magna Steyr in Graz are at risk. While press spokesman Rej Husetovic confirmed the 200 redundancies, he denied that any further jobs were in jeopardy. However, there is still no sign of the economy breathing a sigh of relief.