Barely had the ink dried on today’s [21 September] news of Saab’s great escape from the clutches of bankruptcy – there was talk in the Swedish media of great celebrations in Trollhättan – than the automaker decided to deliver a great dollop of hefty realism.
It was perhaps inevitable but with no production for many, many months now and the company teetering on the precipice for so long, Saab has conjured up the spectre of redundancies as it looks to secure “efficiencies.”
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Was Saab agreeing to wield the axe part of its submission to the Gothenburg Court of Appeal, was that something extra the manufacturer put in to sway the higher Court after its lower division in Vanersborg refused to countenance voluntary reorganisation?
Saab isn’t saying if it was. Instead, it’s couched possible job losses in the language of marketing speak thus: “During the coming weeks, Saab Automobile will identify areas throughout the whole organisation where efficiencies can be gained.
“As a result of this initiative headcount reductions cannot be ruled out. All improvements should be implemented before year-end in order for Saab Automobile to have a new, competitive cost structure for the 2012 financial year.”
The Champagne may well be going a little flat just now at Saab’s main labour body troika of IF Metall, Unionen and Sveriges Ingenjorer after justifiable jubilation earlier today, as the reality of potential redundancies looms large.
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By GlobalDataHave the Chinese themselves asked Saab to shed weight as a condition of their – not inconsiderable – investment of EUR245m (US$335m) split between Youngman and Pang Da?
And just one more thing. IF Metall’s advisor Darko Davidovic told just-auto today that by 21 October Saab must pay salaries itself as the State guarantee runs its course. Saab earlier told us its reorganisation exit could come by November as a “best estimate.”
Will the Chinese be able to secure investment approval from the National Development and Reform Commission in time?
I’ve got to know the Swedish words for debt collection agency (Kronofogden), Appeal Court (Hovratten) and bankruptcy (konkurs) pretty well recently. Will redundancy now be added to the list?
