Protest at Swarovski over moving of production to Serbia

The working council of the Austrian crystal producer Swarovski is concerned over the state of the company, which is moving its production from the plant in Wattens to Serbia increasingly more.

– Less and less is being produced in Wattens and our management has opted for moving jobs. Serbia seems to be a solution to making the production cheaper, but the question is whether this is ethical or not – Ernst Daberto, president of the Working Council, told Tiroler Tageszeitung, as reported by Der Standard.

He says that there are increasingly more expenditures, such as administrative ones, and fewer and fewer production employees.

The workers in Wattens were sent on a leave from October 27 till November 4, and this pause caused fear among the employees.

Swarovski admitted that the situation in Wattens is tense.

– The pressure on profitability in Wattens has not yet been relieved, although, on the whole, we expect a growth this year in the crystal unit – the company announced.

The volume of production in Wattens has sunk, because customers are looking for collections with smaller amounts instead of bigger amounts increasingly more. The pause between the National Day and the All Saints' Day was partly a response to the “fluctuations of manufacturing orders” and a reduction in leftover vacations, Swarovski said.

Swarovski Austria

Swarovski Subotica doo

Swarovski

Swarovski Wattens

Swarovski production in Serbia

Ernst Daberto

Swarovski Working Council