No-one it seems wants to see Saab fail.
The obituaries of the indomitable Swedish manufacturer have been prepared for some time, but Saab continues to fight on against the odds.
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Just a small glimpse of the affection in which the brand is held can be gleaned by a conversation just-auto had with Saab’s major white-collar labour body Unionen this week.
Unionen chief legal adviser Martin Waestfelt said many of his members were continuing to work despite the not inconsiderable inconvenience of not being paid for July, while who knows what August’s salary situation will be.
“Some people start to hesitate, but most of our members are still hopeful,” added the chief legal advisor. “If I compare other companies in Sweden with the same problem, it is common employees don’t have the energy to fulfil the work.”
Despite that tidal wave of goodwill, Saab’s engineering union did cite a note of caution however, raising the inevitable and pertinent question of would the August salaries be paid, even as the prospect of yet another ingenious way to raise cash was being mooted yesterday.
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By GlobalDataSaab raised the hope it might be able to settle unpaid wages through a subscription notice for five million shares under the current equity facility between itself and GEM Global Yield Fund.
Sveriges Ingengorer has around 500 members at the automaker and despite the latest financial wheeze, the engineers are understandably concerned about the next pay slips.
“We really hope this money is coming in – the problem is we don’t feel so very safe,” a Sveriges Ingengorer spokeswoman told just-auto from Sweden. “We think even [if] they get the money this month, we think we might have the same problem next month.”
As we write this, yet more rumours are circulating in Sweden suggesting significant US investment could be on the cards.
Last week it was the extraordinary situation of Russian businessman Vladimir Antonov and now a potential mystery US investor. Rumours and counter-rumour. Just another Saab week.
