Around 80 jobs are on the line in Lahti as a bus basket company starts negotiations to change its entire workforce

SOE Busproduction Finland's factory in Jokimaa, Lahti.
The entire staff of Scania’s subsidiary in Okerois, Lahti, has been invited to a change negotiation meeting.

The future of a company that designs bus bodies is at stake as parent company Scania of Sweden reorganises its operations

Swedish truck and bus major Scania AB is planning to restructure its sites during the spring.

The changes also extend to Okeroinen in Lahti, where Scania’s subsidiary SOE Busproduction Finland announced today that it will start negotiations on changes involving the entire workforce. Etelä-Suomen sanomat was the first to report the news.

The production of bus bodies in Lahti stopped already in spring 2021, when around 200 workers lost their jobs. There were 80 people left in the product development and design of the baskets, all of whom have now been called to change negotiations.

In recent years, so-called prototype cars have been designed and manufactured in Lahti according to the wishes of the main owner from Sweden.

These finished car models in the test phase have then been sent forward, and Scania has evaluated their further possibilities in its actual bus production.

The situation a couple of years ago, with its extensive layoffs, was such a hard blow to the Lahti region that the Ministry of Employment and the Economy allocated a good one million euros to the ELY center in Häme for the restructuring situation. In addition, an additional employee was also hired at the TE center.