European car market remains in a slump. As a result, the Ford factory in Craiova will be forced to stop production for a significant number of days this year, automaker officials said for Agerpres.
Ford Romania has announced on Wednesday that due to the decline of demand on the European auto market it will implement a programme for the voluntary ceasing of the individual employment contracts for 680 employees of the Craiova plant. The employees may join the program by December 18, and if through the voluntary joining programme the target number of layoffs is not reached, a programme of layoffs on economic reasons will be launched.
The leader of the Ford union, Ovidiu Cioroianu, stated that the termination of 680 jobs at the Ford plant in Craiova is the largest termination of personnel in the plant’s history. “We will attend consultations, with proposals and solutions for these people. We are speaking of a reduction of almost 23 percent of the total number of employees of the factory”, said Ovidiu Cioroianu.
In a press release, Ford Romania mentions that through this measure it intends to use the optimal amount of workforce left in Craiova and fulfill the current conditions of production, while the company’s leadership is looking for new opportunities to produce in Craiova a second type of vehicle, after the model that is produced currently, B-Max.