German manufacturer MAN Truck & Bus on Thursday said it plans to cut around 2,300 jobs in Germany over a period of 10 years.
No redundancies are planned, a company spokesman said, with positions to decrease naturally through retirement.
The manufacturer’s main plant in Munich is to be worst affected, with 1,300 jobs lost, followed by 600 at the site in Salzgitter and 400 in Nuremberg.
MAN must “adapt to the continuing weakness of the truck market in Germany,” the spokesman said, warning that high electricity and labour costs paired with rising pressure from Asian competitors are weighing on results.
“We are now entering a phase of high investment and need to generate sustained profits in order to expand our product portfolio,” he said.
The IG Metall union warned that the relocation of production to a new Polish site run by MAN’s parent company, the Traton Group, will affect factories in Germany.
The plans “jeopardize the long-term existence of the main Munich plant,” said union representative Sybille Wankel.
“No one is losing their job today, but in the long term, the decision means that the MAN truck of the future will be built in Poland and not in Munich,” she added.
If “all parts for a truck are manufactured in Poland and transported from there to Munich for assembly only,” Wankel explained, “it is obvious that at some point, assembly in Munich will also be up for discussion.”
Karina Schnur, from the company’s general works council, said she was “appalled by the company’s behaviour.”
“At no point was the management willing to seriously discuss alternatives to the relocation plans,” she stated. “This is a slap in the face for the people here in Munich who work hard for MAN every day.”
IG Metall official Horst Ott announced that he would confront MAN management and strongly recommend that the board enter into talks.
“Escalating the situation won’t help anyone – but they need to know that we will do so,” he warned.
Ott did not say exactly what this would look like, but emphasized that IG Metall has “the right tool for every problem. Which one we use depends on the other side.”
