Production stoppage at VW unit sees hundreds lose jobs at suppliers

Volkswagen’s Autoeuropa car plant at Palmela, in Setúbal district, south of Lisbon, is starting a nine-week production stoppage on Monday that has already led to the dismissal of hundreds of non-permanent workers.

In addition to the 100 casuals let go by the VW group car plant itself, several companies based on the same industrial estate have also announced their intention to lay off dozens of temporary workers, or those on fixed-term contracts.

According to the coordinator of Works Councils at the industrial estate, by last Friday Autoeuropa and its supplier companies had already confirmed the dismissal of 291 casual workers.

However, the Southern Union of Workers in the Manufacturing, Energy and Environmental Industries (SITE-Sul) said that it was already aware of a total of 560 workers losing their jobs.

The planned stoppage of production at the Autoeuropa car plant in Palmela, in the district of Setúbal, from 11 September to 12 November, is due to difficulties faced by a VW supplier in Slovenia, which was severely affected by the floods that occurred at the beginning of August in that country.

Autoeuropa, which decided to resort to a furloughing workers during the production stoppage, has said that it will ensure that 95% of its own workers’ salaries are paid, but several companies in the industrial park are preparing to apply wage cuts of 10% or 33%.