Restart only in March

Production stop at KTM lasts two and a half months

The traditional Christmas break in production at KTM starts a week earlier than usual this year.

(Bild: Wenzel Markus)

A mountain of debt in the billions, liabilities to banks, suppliers, tax authorities and health insurance companies - the scale of KTM's insolvency is still unbelievable for many. For the employees, the problems are extremely tangible: In addition to the first redundancies and the long wait for wages and Christmas bonuses, the plug is now being pulled on production from Friday evening.

Workers and employees will soon receive the largest chunks of their December salaries from the motorcycle manufacturer, which last week already transferred wages and salaries for one day in November and the December portion of the Christmas bonus.

The bulk of the Christmas bonus and the November wages will then flow from the insolvency pay fund in January - the insolvency law team at the Upper Austrian Chamber of Labor is currently in the process of checking the powers of attorney and data of the employees and supplementing them if necessary.

"Almost all powers of attorney already received"
The 13 works meetings that have taken place in Mattighofen, Munderfing and Schalchen are already having an effect. "We have already received almost all proxies," says Karoline Neumüller from the Upper Austrian Chamber of Labor.

While work is in full swing in many areas to fight for the continued existence of the company and to set the course for the future for the employees who are losing their jobs, the lights will go out in production at KTM on Friday evening.

The motorcycle manufacturer had already announced before the insolvency proceedings were opened that it would be shutting down bike assembly in January and February and then restarting single-shift operations in March. 250 employees were made redundant on December 2.

130,000 motorcycles in stock
However, the break will not last two months, but two and a half months. This is because the shutdown, which normally takes place around Christmas and New Year's Eve, has been brought forward and extended by a week. It will begin this weekend. This means that production is currently still running in two shifts, although KTM revealed in the restructuring application that 130,000 motorcycles are in stock.