It was not yet clear how many of the approximately 6,000 jobs would be affected. The union, in turn, told the “Tiroler Tageszeitung” (Tuesday edition) that the number would be 200 to 300. MPreis had recently been in the red and had imposed a restructuring process on itself.
This “transformation process” will bring “painful cuts in some areas,” MPreis told “TT.” “Unfortunately, this includes job cuts that are unavoidable from today’s perspective, and which we are forced to do due to the challenging economic conditions.” Reluctance to buy, high energy costs, inflation, collective agreement adjustments, or the current decline in summer tourism were cited as reasons. A “detailed plan” is now being drawn up together with the social partners, it said. The early warning system of the Public Employment Service (AMS) will be triggered as needed.
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The union had already been called into action. GPA Tirol managing director Harald Schweighofer spoke of hundreds of jobs that were to be cut. “It is incomprehensible that MPreis is laying off employees in a situation where there is a shortage of staff in all branches. The employees are already extremely overworked,” he criticized the company management.
MPreis recently made headlines due to the dismissal of two employees. According to the union, this was related to the impending establishment of a works council, and a lawsuit was filed. The company denied this and welcomed the establishment of a works council for the approximately 5,800 employees in Austria. MPreis employs a total of around 6,000 people and operates branches in six federal states and in South Tyrol.
The food retailer had a personnel change at the top in the spring. Martina Dutzler left the management and was replaced by the German finance and restructuring expert Stefan Gros. Most recently, the company’s management had set the goal of “getting back into the black” this year – in contrast to 2022 and 2023 – and thus getting into the profit zone. Branches outside the “core area” in the state of Tyrol, namely “eastern locations” or “more distant branches”, were to be put to the test. “Evaluations” would be carried out. According to “TT”, MPreis made a loss of 15.2 million euros from February to December 2022 on sales of 801 million euros. The key figures for 2023 were not yet available.
