Adjustments Achieved without Compulsory Redundancies
*Saving volume of #8364;250m in personnel costs
*No compulsory redundancies until June 30, 2010
There has been a successful reconciliation of interests – the Schaeffler Group’s Executive Management Board and Plant Managements on one hand and Labor Representatives on the other have agreed on a package of measures to reduce the personnel costs at the Schaeffler locations in Germany. The total adjustment volume, required due to slack demand, amounts to #8364;250m annually. These savings are to be achieved through natural fluctuation, voluntary redundancies and partial retirement as well as the continued use of short time work and reduced working hours including adjustment of salaries and wages. Corresponding plant agreements settle the details.
According to the agreement, there will be no compulsory redundancies at Schaeffler KG until June 30, 2010. It has also been possible to avoid cuts in one-off payments. The company assumes that the economic development has reached its lowest point and that markets will slightly recover in 2010.
“We have succeeded in finding these well-balanced and socially acceptable provisions in good time. This is an important step towards cost adjustments to react appropriately to the lower sales level caused by the current economic situation,” said Dr. Jürgen Geißinger, Schaeffler Group President & CEO, thanking all those involved in the negotiations. “Now it is up to all of us to walk this path together and make our contributions to cost reduction. We can foresee that this path is not a comfortable one, but it will lead us to our goal.”
“The compromise takes into account the general economic conditions and keeps the burden for the employees as low as possible,” said Thomas Mölkner, Chairman of the Works Council in Herzogenaurach. “With this agreement we gain time for socially acceptable solutions.” The measures were explained to the Herzogenaurach workforce during a works meeting today. Following in the footsteps of all other German locations, Herzogenaurach was the last remaining plant to reach a successful location-specific agreement during the past days and weeks.
Kurt Mirlach, Executive Vice President Human Resources at Schaeffler, commends the constructive and target-oriented cooperation between the Executive Management Board and employee representatives, which has made a considerable contribution to safeguarding the company’s future.
Both the Executive Management Board and the Works Council emphasized that there is no alternative to cost adjustments due to the difficult worldwide economic situation. Both parties are agreed that further steps will need to be taken should the economic situation further deteriorate. In this case, it may not be possible to rule out the establishment of transfer companies and compulsory redundancies in 2010.
The company expects consolidated sales for 2009 to amount to approximately #8364;7.5bn as opposed to #8364;8.9bn last year. It assumes that the markets will not reach the 2008 level before 2012/13.
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