During the Corona pandemic there was a real camping boom. Nevertheless, the Putzbrunn motorhome outfitter Truma got into trouble last year. In December there were even layoffs at the company, which is considered the European market leader in heating and maneuvering systems. About ten percent of the more than 700 employees are said to have lost their jobs. According to Truma, it has been the leading accessory specialist in the field of caravanning for 70 years. In 1961, the company developed the first caravan heater, making winter camping possible in the first place.
The management, which consists of the two CEOs Alexander Wottrich and Robert Strauß and the commercial director Markus Heringer, did not answer the SZ inquiry about the magnitude of the terminations. It only confirms “limited job cuts at the Putzbrunn site”. The trio wrote in more detail about the reasons for the severe cuts: “The unprecedented combination of several global crises and the associated effects, such as delays in the supply chain, high inflation rates and rising costs, hit the company hard in 2022,” write the bosses. And further: “Unfortunately, the job cuts were unavoidable in order to ensure long-term stability and independence as a family business.”
At least the top management excludes further cuts, one is now “set up for the future” and “planned investments in projects” are also guaranteed. “The quality of support for vehicle manufacturers, retailers and end customers remains at the well-known high level, both in terms of personnel and expertise.”
The Putzbrunn-based company Truma is reducing staff.
(Photo: Claus Schunk/)
Small consolation for all those who lost their jobs just before Christmas. Some of them are venting their anger on the Kununu job portal: “After the catastrophic wrong decision of the mass dismissal 12/2022, it would be better to think about taking a closer look at controlling and management,” writes one of those affected. “The little ones pay for the oversleeping of the management level….but without them nothing progresses!”
Another person who was apparently spared a dismissal also expresses his criticism. Since the evictions, “nothing is the same as it was”. The selection of those who had been dismissed also resembled “the pattern of a lottery game”, for example there were also capable employees “who have obviously become too uncomfortable for their superiors”. And so the employee concludes: “How am I ever going to be able to fully perform again, knowing full well that I will suffer the same fate.”
The downsizing without a social plan is the result of “the fact that there is no works council”
The company asserts that terminations were only made “after a thorough examination of all other potentially possible measures – on the basis of fair severance offers for the employees concerned”. A statement that Daniele Frijia from IG Metall doubts: “It sounds as if the employees had a free choice,” says the union representative, who identifies the fundamental problem with a lack of employee representation within the company: “Here, job cuts were obviously made without Made a social plan or pension adjustments. This is the result of the fact that there is no works council at Truma.”
He knows the structures at the Putzbrunn employer, IG Metall has tried several times to find employees who could be set up for such a body. “But then the pressure from the company on the candidates quickly grew. And the tenor of the official letters showed that the top management sought legal advice,” says Frijia. He appeals to the workforce of all larger companies not to be intimidated when establishing a representative: “IG Metall is always ready to intervene to help.” Referring to Truma, the union leader draws a bitter conclusion: “A works council would at least have ensured that the layoffs were not arbitrary, but proceeded according to a social plan. But you can’t just make people happy.”