Adtranz to cut 710 jobs in Switzerland

The international railway systems group Adtranz has announced it’s closing its two Swiss plants, with the loss of 710 jobs by May 2001.

The international railway systems group Adtranz has announced it’s closing its two Swiss plants, with the loss of 710 jobs by May 2001.

Unions representing the 475 workers at Pratteln near Basel and the 235 employees at Oerlikon near Zurich say the decision is unacceptable.

“The unions will defend their members against closure,” said Charles Steck, secretary of the Syna union.

He said the decision went against assurances to employees made at the beginning of the year. When DaimlerChrysler took over the company, management had said that production in Switzerland was competitive.

Adtranz Switzerland was one of the strongest performers in the group, producing ten percent of total turnover with only five percent of group staff.

The Swiss Federal Railways, the leading customer of Adtranz Switzerland,has expressed disappointment at the closures, saying they were a heavy loss which would mean the disappearance of technological know-how.

Adtranz, which is one of the world’s leading providers of railway systems, products and solutions, is also closing plants in Germany, Portugal, Norway and the United States. The plans involve job cuts of 3,000 out of a total workforce of 24,000.

The company was established in January 1996 as a joint venture of ABB and Daimler-Benz (now DaimlerChrysler). In early 1999, Daimler-Chrysler took over the ABB share.