22 September, 2011On September 20 the Swedish metalworkers' union IF Metall filed a bankruptcy petition against the ailing Swedish automaker SAAB at the local district court. The decision was taken unanimously at a video conference meeting of the IF Metall office, the Trollhättan local and the SAAB section.
SWEDEN: Several bankruptcy petitions, from suppliers like japanese Takata-Petris in Germany, Romania and Poland and from the Swedish unions Unionen and Ledarna are already pending.
- It is a very painful decision, but we must protect our members' salaries, and cannot wait any more, said IF Metall president Stefan Löfven and the IF Metall SAAB section chairman Håkan Skött. 1,500 IF Metall members have not recieved their salary for August, and September 23 the salary for September is due.
SAAB has appealed against the petitions, instead applying for legal protection against creditors during reconstruction, hoping for new investments from Chinese autobuilder Youngman and distributor Pang Da.
- We hope that the court of appeal gives SAAB a possibility to reconstruct. Both Youngman and Pang Da considers SAABs problems to be temporary, said Stefan Löfven and Håkan Skött.
On September 21 a divided court of appeal granted the company's application for reconstruction for Saab Automobile AB, Saab Automobile Powertrain AB and Saab Automobile Tools AB. That means that salaries will be guaranteed by the state, and IF Metall's bankruptcy petition is a non-issue.
- It is a very painful decision, but we must protect our members' salaries, and cannot wait any more, said IF Metall president Stefan Löfven and the IF Metall SAAB section chairman Håkan Skött. 1,500 IF Metall members have not recieved their salary for August, and September 23 the salary for September is due.
SAAB has appealed against the petitions, instead applying for legal protection against creditors during reconstruction, hoping for new investments from Chinese autobuilder Youngman and distributor Pang Da.
- We hope that the court of appeal gives SAAB a possibility to reconstruct. Both Youngman and Pang Da considers SAABs problems to be temporary, said Stefan Löfven and Håkan Skött.
On September 21 a divided court of appeal granted the company's application for reconstruction for Saab Automobile AB, Saab Automobile Powertrain AB and Saab Automobile Tools AB. That means that salaries will be guaranteed by the state, and IF Metall's bankruptcy petition is a non-issue.