Salaries and wages for the month of December have been transferred; the moment when the wave of layoffs ends; Negotiations with investors are progressing: the war for KTM’s future is in full swing. “For now we can only wait and see,” says Daniel Lang, mayor of Mattighofen, where the consequences of the crisis are already being felt. The first former KTM workers would have left.
Motorcycle production in Mattighofen is at a standstill at least until the beginning of March, so lately around 1,000 employees are at home; The 30-hour workweek applies until the leading factory staff have more work – these are just two of the measures that aim to get the motorcycle manufacturer out of the crisis.
Negotiations are underway for the sale of MV-Agusta shares. The debt mountain of around 1. 8 billion euros also means that the majority stake in the Italian luxury logo MV Agusta, acquired in March 2024, will be sold again; Negotiations have been taking place lately. There were also job cuts.
Of course, I continue to communicate with the other people who paint at KTM. They say they are lately waiting to see what will happen in the coming weeks and months. Others are already in the process of reorienting themselves, as you can hear.
Daniel Lang, Bürgermeister der Stadt Mattighofen
At the beginning of December, 250 workers were laid off and today, in the last two weeks, only about three hundred more have learned that they have to leave the company. Unlike the first wave, this time there was no corporate assembly of the Chamber of Labor. However, the Insolvency Law Department of the Upper Austrian Chamber of Labor sent small groups to the Innviertel region. This week, for example, two workers were at KTM since Monday. to Thursday to advise the ignored workers.
What is the mood like in Mattighofen at the moment? “You can tell that people are a little more confident that things will continue, but it’s totally uncertain how,” says Daniel Lang. The 36-year-old is the mayor of the town where KTM has its headquarters and main production facility. He and his team are also up in the air. The city has already postponed individual projects. They are waiting.
Sarcastic comments about the reduction of salaries in municipal positions remain silent. The city has announced vacancies to the AMS, for example in the daycare center or in the outdoor swimming pool. The first programs have already been received, says Lang: “Two years ago we had almost no programs. When they looked at the salary, they said: ‘I would be on the treadmill at KTM and I would earn twice as much. ‘ Job security is becoming more vital again”.
The KTM crisis and its consequences are becoming more and more noticeable for the city. Between November and December, the number one apartment number decreased to 37. “It’s a very big drop, it’s never been like this since I’ve been mayor,” Lang explains. Although the number one apartment building increased during the year, construction was already particularly lower than in 2023. “I’m former KTM painters who moved because they were looking for paintings elsewhere,” the politician explains.
In addition, the city itself acts as a creditor in the insolvency procedure: it is responsible for unpaid installments for water, sanitation, etc.
This article has been translated, read the original article here.