In Wulkaprodersdorf

Downsizing at waste disposal company Brantner

Brantner has over 65 branches in five countries. The site in Wulkaprodersdorf was only acquired in November 2022.

(Bild: Reinhard Judt)

More than 20 percent of the workforce has already been registered with the AMS early warning system. No other locations are currently affected by redundancies, the company assures.

It has been exactly two years since the Lower Austrian waste disposal company Brantner took over Hackl Container Abfallbehandlungs GmbH. in Wulkaprodersdorf. In addition to sorting lightweight packaging, construction site waste and commercial and bulky waste, the company also collects lightweight packaging and cardboard and produces substitute fuels.

There are currently 74 employees at the site in question, 45 of whom work in the sorting department. As the "Krone" has now learned, the workforce was informed last Monday that Sort4you GmbH has registered 16 employees with the AMS early warning system. The works council has already been informed of this step.

Difficult order situation
The reason for the reduction in staff is said to be a lower volume of plastic sorting due to a loss of orders. "The redundancies have not yet been announced, but the timetable is set. They are to take place on December 31, 2024," confirms Oliver Krumpeck, regional secretary of the relevant transport and services union (vida): "The works council and we are now trying to find a socially acceptable solution for the employees affected. The Brantner company is willing to talk."

The impending redundancies are particularly bitter for the 16 employees affected now, just before Christmas.

(Bild: Patrick Huber)

And what does the company itself have to say about the impending changes? "This decision was very difficult for us and was made after a lengthy consideration of alternative solutions. As much as it pains us, this step is unfortunately unavoidable at this time," says Brantner. The background to this is that the volume of lightweight packaging delivered and to be sorted, and therefore the capacity utilization of the sorting plant, has reduced considerably in 2024: "Unfortunately, the order situation has not improved significantly in recent months either, which means that one shift has to be reduced."