Fund needs time

cccc

Production at KTM in Mattighofen has been at a standstill since Friday evening. The employees are up in the air financially.

(Bild: Scharinger Daniel)

The employees had been promised that they would receive an advance on their December salaries and wages before Christmas - but KTM has not kept this promise. Can there still be a "Christmas miracle" for the workforce thanks to a transfer from the insolvency compensation fund? Unfortunately not.

At the beginning of this week, around 1500 employees of the furniture retailer kikaLeiner, which has slipped into insolvency, will receive their outstanding November salaries and the pro rata Christmas bonus, which, despite uncertain job prospects, will at least bring some relief in terms of the account balance so close to Christmas.

However, the employees at KTM cannot expect a similar treat before December 24th. This is because the motorcycle manufacturer filed for insolvency two weeks later than kikaLeiner and, with more than 3,600 employees, has a completely different dimension to the bankruptcy of the retail company.

"We were promised the wage data several times and we have not received it despite our intervention," says AK-OÖ President Andreas Stangl. They arrived on Monday afternoon.

(Bild: Wenzel Markus)

The fact is: the insolvency compensation fund is ready, but can only take action and transfer the money to the KTM employees after the Chamber of Labor's calculations and the blessing of the restructuring administrators Peter Vogl, Robert Tremel and Franz Mitterbauer as well as confirmation from the responsible court.

Powers of attorney issued at works meetings
At the works meetings held in the days immediately following the opening of the three insolvency proceedings, the first important steps were taken for the transfers: The insolvency law department of the Upper Austrian Chamber of Labor had arrived at the works meetings at KTM in unison to issue the powers of attorney required for filing and, ideally, to collect them again straight away. The employees' data was then checked and, if necessary, supplemented. However, the wage data that the motorcycle manufacturer had to submit was a long time coming.

Karoline Neumüller from the Chamber of Labor and her team are working hard to ensure that the KTM employees receive their outstanding salary and most of their Christmas bonus.

(Bild: AK OÖ/Wolfgang Spitzbart .)

Chamber of Labor had to intervene again on Monday
"They were actually promised to us for the beginning of last week, then for Friday. But they weren't there on Monday morning either, so we intervened again," says Andreas Stangl, President of the Upper Austrian Chamber of Labor. They were then sent on Monday afternoon. "Our colleagues have just started processing the data," revealed Karoline Neumüller, Head of the Insolvency Law Department at the Upper Austrian Chamber of Labor, shortly before 4 pm.

One thing is clear: there will certainly be no "Christmas miracle" from the insolvency compensation fund. Neumüller had few illusions from the outset. "If everything works like clockwork, we hope that the insolvency compensation fund will be able to pay out at the end of January," she said.

400 million euros in the pot
The insolvency compensation fund has emphasized in recent days that it expects to receive the applications from KTM employees this week at the earliest. They are well prepared and will then process them as quickly as possible. Employees affected by insolvency are well protected when it comes to outstanding claims. The insolvency compensation fund is currently sufficiently endowed with around 400 million euros, it is said.

Company had promised advance payment
At KTM, the employees had hoped and trusted that the company would keep its promise and transfer an advance on salaries and wages for December before Christmas. On Thursday, the workforce was informed that there was a lack of liquidity. Bad news just a few days before Christmas.