Åkers Sweden introduced a temporary lay-off agreement for IF Metall members at the beginning of April, following agreement with the trade union organizations. A similar agreement has now been reached for white collar employees at Åkers Sweden.

“Åkers is too small a company to be able to afford to do anything else just now. It’s simply a case of riding out the tough times in which we and the market find ourselves. These lay-off agreements will hopefully make it possible for us to retain staff despite a reduced workload in production and thus any subsequent shortage of work,” says Kerstin Konradsson, MD at Åkers Sweden, who together with the rest of the management team of Åkers Sweden will be affected by the agreement as well.

The lay-off agreement for white collar employees, which runs until the end of September this year, means that staff at Åkers Sweden will be laid off work but will retain their jobs. During the lay-off period, 83 per cent of salary will be guaranteed. The lay-offs will begin during Ascension week, when there will also be a scheduled week of production stoppages. 

“I hope that with this agreement we will be able to avoid redundancies and be in a good position by the time the economy recovers,” says Louice Nilsson, chairman of the local branch of the Unionen trade union.

And Jörgen Eriksson, chairman of the local branch of the Ledarna trade union, agrees:

“The company has belief in the future. This agreement is an excellent means of preventing redundancies and retaining a suitable level of staffing during the transition period to put us in a good position when the economy picks up.”