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Director-General of Autoeuropa removes redundancies in Palmela

The Director General of the Autoeuropa ensured that the Portuguese subsidiary of Volkswagen has room to withstand the crisis without being forced to resort to layoffs. The exemption of workers this year is a scenario rejected by Andreas Heinrichs, which is before the cuts in production and flexibility as cornerstone of the company’s strategy to resist the difficulties posed to the current juncture.

It was with a note of optimism that, during a press conference scheduled to make the state of business, Andreas Heinrich stressed that the factory in Palmela succeeded even “increase the production volume by 0.5 percent” in 2008, only being short of the target initially set to 100 thousand units due to the global crisis that broke at the end of last summer.

“By September, we were almost at the goal,” said Andreas Heinrich, to explain that, contrary to what is happening with Volkswagen in Germany, a strategy designed for the production unit of Autoeuropa will not go through the dismissal of workers but the tool of non-production.

Explaining that the factory in Palmela has “additional tools to overcome the situation,” the director-general assurance this afternoon that “the Autoeuropa is. We will produce cars until the next year.”

Flexibility is key to responding to the crisis

According to the explanations of Andreas Heinrichs, the strategy of Palmela to tackle the sharp drop in car sales in North America and western Europe is already underway.

A first step was making 254 workers subcontracted through temporary agency work.

The second measure focuses on the reduction of production, and the Autoeuropa to consider the suspension of work during the last week of February next year, should also stop the production of the Eos and Scirocco models for 16 days and the Alhambra and Sharan vans other 17 days .

In April, is scheduled total stop on new lines of vans.

A strategy based on flexibility was also advocated by the Director of Human Resources of the plant in Palmela.

Stressing the need to be balanced with the peak production times when orders fall, Julius von Ingelheim said that flexibility is a policy that ensures Autoeuropa in the payment of at least 208 days of work.

At the end of the press conference, the Director-General Andreas Heinrich left new note of optimism, noting that the “do not resolve the problem if every day we have bad news and dermis bad news for our customers. It is our responsibility to convey a positive message to consumers. “

Promises of the board of Autoeuropa leave satisfied Jerónimo de Sousa

During a visit to the premises of Autoeuropa, inserted in the national campaign of PCP “Enough of Injustice! Yes, it is possible a better life,” Jeronimo de Sousa acknowledged “a breakthrough” in the declaration of Andreas Heinrich.

“After the investment of Portuguese rule, while ensuring the jobs and not to pay compensation for dismissal, I think it was a logical measure that was necessary that the administration recognized that commitment and ensure the jobs,” said the leader of the PCP to journalists during a visit to the plant in Setubal.

The secretary-general of the Communist warned however for the “kind of a contract term that is the direction of the company’s commitment not to fire anyone until the end of 2009.