Group CEO confirms

This is how many jobs OMV is cutting in Austria

The energy and chemicals group with headquarters in Vienna is now launching a cost-cutting program.(Bild: APA/HARALD SCHNEIDER)

Domestic energy giant OMV will lay off "a mid-three-digit number" of employees in Austria by 2027, Group CEO Alfred Stern has now confirmed. Around 400 people at OMV and the chemicals subsidiary Borealis are likely to be affected; talks with the works councils are ongoing.  

A week ago it had already become known that hundreds of jobs at OMV in Austria were in jeopardy as part of the Revo savings and efficiency program. While the Group remained silent at the time, employee representatives had informed the employees.

"In recent years, wage costs have risen by 23 percent. Nobody can expect this not to have consequences," Stern now explained. With the "Revo" efficiency program, OMV wants to save a total of around 400 million euros by 2027. "When we examined the plans, we realized that this would not be possible without staff cuts," said the CEO. The organization must become faster overall, and the increased use of artificial intelligence should also help to make savings. It is clear that "we have to be better tomorrow than we are today." 

Trade union sharply criticizes move
The Group currently employs around 2,000 people in Austria, with a further 1,000 at Borealis. It is still unclear how many jobs will disappear through natural attrition and how many employees will actually have to be made redundant.

The trade union GPA has sharply criticized the move. GPA boss Barbara Teiber spoke of a "serious blow for the business location", especially in view of the good economic figures and the OMV-ADNOC-Borealis deal. She appealed to the federal government to exert influence via the state holding company ÖBAG in order to prevent the cuts.

Minister: "The ball is now in the Management Board's court"
Economics Minister Wolfgang Hattmannsdorfer (ÖVP) recently emphasized that the planned measures must be implemented in a socially responsible manner. "I have clearly communicated to the Management Board that I expect the employee representatives to be closely involved," he explained. "As this is initial information, the ball is now in the Management Board's court to specify its plans."

Cuts are also being considered at international sites - including Petrom in Romania, the Burghausen refinery in Bavaria and the Bratislava site.