Saab‘s major white collar union is preparing its position with a view to potentially handing in a bankruptcy claim for the automaker this Thursday (8 September).
Unionen, which represents around 1,000 management staff at the Trollhattan manufacturer, is also talking to Saab’s three other labour bodies in order to work out a common approach.
“Our ground position is we have to act immediately and to wait to the last day is not our way of thinking,” Unionen chief legal advisor Martin Waestfelt told just-auto.
“It is in some way different cultures in different trade unions, but we agreed we had the same position and it is much easier for all of us four unions to act together.”
Unionen has not spoken to Saab today (6 September) or heard from the embattled automaker, but Waestfelt noted he was in daily contact with his local representatives at Trollhattan.
Blue-collar union IF Metall is currently meeting in Stockholm to discuss the crisis, which has seen its members go unpaid for August and numerous suppliers still owed considerable amounts of money.
“It seems we are still waiting for some kind of announcement from Saab and we probably won’t make a decision until the end of the week,” IF Metall research officer Aleksander Zuza told just-auto from Vienna.
“I know they [IF Metall] have a meeting right now at head office – they are talking about their options. We are not going to rush into something until we are absolutely sure,” he said.
For its part Saab is not commenting on information given to just-auto by Chinese sources that money was paid into its account last week. “”Money has arrived in their account, it arrived last week,” the source told just-auto from China, although it is unclear whether this amount is to be used to settle outstanding salaries.
Unionen previously indicated the total wage bill for July amounted to around SEK55m or US$8.6m, although the Chinese source asked for the amount it paid last week remain secret.
“We are hoping but the clock is ticking unfortunately,” noted Zuza.
