THE SWEDISH CAR company Saab has admitted that it doesn’t have the money to pay its employees.
The firm says it is struggling to obtain short-term funding in order to honour pay slips. The Guardian reports that a sale and leaseback of Saab’s real estate is among the options to source the funding.
A spokesperson for the company has admitted that it is not possible to confirm when employees will be paid and that “there are no guarantees but we are not giving up”.
A Swedish labour union has said it’s gathering pay slips from members who haven’t been paid in order to send payment requests to Saab, and that the company will then have a week to honour them. If the wages still aren’t paid then Saab will be forced into bankrupty, reports the Wall Street Journal.
Two Chinese car companies formed part of a rescue package for Saab earlier this month when they bought more than 50 per cent of its shares. However production has not yet resumed after being halted for the past three months because suppliers could not be paid.
BBC Business reporter Richard Anderson comments that Saab simply does not sell enough cars, having sold just 30,000 last year when 120,000 are needed to break even.
The 3,800 workers employed at the companies plant in Trolhattan are not expected to return to work until at least the end of next week.
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