"Restructurer" appointed

Hallein: Fears and worries about jobs at Emco

The turning machine company Emco has economic problems.(Bild: MARKUS TSCHEPP)

A consultant is to save Emco Hallein. The workforce is fearing for their jobs. Hackers recently paralyzed the company. The managing director comments on the circumstances.

The workforce at Emco Hallein is frustrated. There is talk behind closed doors of four works meetings in recent weeks. Ideas for cost-cutting measures have been presented time and again: Shares in exchange for salary deductions. Waiving collectively agreed wage increases. Hardship regulations.

"There is a lot of frustration," says one employee - because so far none of this has been implemented. Now a "reorganizer" is supposed to help out: The owner - the Kuhn Group from Eugendorf - has appointed Andreas Tostmann, a VW manager for many years and now a management consultant. He made a name for himself as a MAN manager: at the VW subsidiary Traton, he was tasked with turning the truck company around. MAN sold two plants, one of them in Steyr, and cut thousands of jobs.

Consultant gains access to all employees
Now the Kuhn family wrote to the management: "In this difficult situation in which Emco finds itself, we as a family have decided to engage Mr. Andreas Tostmann as an external consultant." He is to be given unrestricted insight and full access to all employees.

Emco Managing Director Markus Nolte comments: "The family and management are pulling in the same direction. We have several consultants, Tostmann is a smart guy, he should help with the restructuring. This was decided together."

There have already been job cuts
The company has remained at a constant level in recent years, but has not grown as much as hoped. "We have already reduced the workforce," says Nolte. He does not want to give any figures. "We have also had natural departures, significantly increased productivity and made the whole thing employee-friendly."

Emco employees say that the climate is bad. They are asking themselves why they should possibly forgo salaries if they don't know whether they will still have a job in three months' time.

Hackers paralyzed the plant last Thursday, but without causing any damage.(Bild: EVELYN HRONEK)

Further job cuts for the 350 employees have been on the cards for some time. Nolte comments: "I don't think anyone in Austria can be sure whether they will still have their job in a few months' time. We have lost competitiveness and need to regain it."

Hackers caused system shutdown
What's more, Emco was the victim of a hacker attack last Thursday. The systems were down for two days. "The attack had no impact. We have hundreds of hacker attacks every week, this one was more sophisticated, we shut down the systems for two days and scanned everything - no damage was done," explains Nolte.

Florian Koch, Regional Secretary of the GPA, says: "We are observing the events at Emco with concern and are standing by the works councils. We expect all measures to be agreed with the employee representatives. Emco is a leading company that must be preserved."