Heavy blow:

Magna has to cut another 500 employees in Graz

The next bitter pill for the local industry: Due to the poor order situation, Magna has to cut another 500 employees in Graz.

Although the news was to be expected, it is yet another heavy blow for Styria as a business location: due to the poor order situation (above all because of the turbulence at US car manufacturer Fisker), 500 employees at Magna in Graz have to pack their bags, the workforce was informed on Wednesday.

Around 450 employees were already affected by "personnel adjustments" at the plant in Thondorf at the end of last year. Fisker had planned to produce up to 40,000 cars per year in Graz, but in the end it was not even 10,000. According to Magna, a social plan has now been agreed with employee representatives. However, the first redundancies will probably take effect at the end of April. "We are endeavouring to minimize the impact on the affected employees and are working to find alternative employment opportunities for them within Magna," said Magna's European headquarters in Frankfurt. Based on the production forecasts, however, one production line will continue to run in single-shift operation, according to the Group.

State puts together aid packages
A fact that has now also brought the province of Styria onto the scene. Together with the AMS and social partners, attempts will be made to find work in the region for those affected as quickly as possible, emphasizes Social Affairs Minister Doris Kampus (SPÖ). Barbara Eibinger-Miedl (ÖVP), State Councillor for Economic Affairs, wants to offer employees prospects with the ACStyria mobility cluster - all vacancies in the cluster can be found at acstyria.com/jobs/. She has also earmarked up to an additional five million euros for the expansion of a research program on the topic of "transformation"