The bad news came on Wednesday morning. At a staff meeting, Silvia Lieb, deputy CEO of Moser Holding, informed the employees of Landesverlag Druckservice GmbH in Wels that production would cease on June 30, 2023 and that the site would be closed. Instead, the media company, which publishes the Tyrolean daily newspaper, among other things, wants to concentrate production at its Tyrolean location in Innsbruck.
86 employees are affected by the closure, and according to a company spokeswoman, a social plan is to be drawn up for them. The management has started talks with the works council and the workforce. “Our goal is to ensure operations in Wels with the usual high quality and reliability until June 30, 2023,” Lieb is quoted as saying in a broadcast.
Moser Holding gave several reasons for the end in Wels. First, paper costs have forced customers to reduce production volumes. This could result in the loss of orders. Secondly, there are general market distortions due to the corona pandemic. Thirdly, material and spare parts are only available to a limited extent. And fourthly, the situation on the labor market in Upper Austria is tense. This development has become apparent in the past few months, and the decision is “unfortunately necessary,” said Lieb. Four years ago, Moser Holding closed its print shop in Elsbethen in the Salzburg area, at that time 36 employees were affected.
A printing company with tradition
With the closure of the printing works in Wels, an era also ends. Because the print shop was originally one of the seven print shops of the Landesverlag, which employed around 1,000 people in the 1990s and was one of the largest media groups in Austria. From 1996 the state publishing house was broken up. Moser Holding took over the print shop in Wels in 2008 and, in addition to the group’s print products, also printed monthly magazines, puzzle books and advertising folders. According to information on the company website, up to 15,000 tons of paper are processed annually with two offset printing machines in Wels.
According to its own information, Moser Holding has 1,340 employees at 112 locations throughout Austria. The group of companies also includes RegionalMedien Austria and the federal states’ magazines (including the “Upper Austrian”).
Source: Nachrichten
