Support for a strike that last week shut Audi’s massive Hungarian plant increased over the weekend, the union said on Monday, and the disruption in supplies has led to a halt in production at the carmaker’s home factory in Germany.
On Monday, there was a gathering of about 4,500 workers at the plant, Szimacsek said, to give support to an unusually powerful show of labor strength in Hungary, where large strikes are uncommon. Audi declined to comment on the turnout.
The strike has led to a shutdown at Audi’s home plant in Ingolstadt, Germany, due to a lack of vital components from Hungary such as engines, a company spokesman said. Audi is a member of the Volkswagen group.
Daimler, Suzuki and General Motors also have units in Hungary, and BMW committed to building a large new factory last year.
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Volkswagen’s business in Slovakia, the country’s biggest car plant and largest private sector employer, plans to reduce staff this year for the first time since the 2009 global downturn as part of an efficiency drive.
The business will return some 500 workers it had borrowed from the Hungarian unit of premium brand Audi in 2016, reduce the number of contractors and will not extend expiring fixed-term contracts, it said in a statement on Monday.
Volkswagen employs around 14,000 people in Slovakia and the German automaker did not say what that figure would fall to.
In 2017, Volkswagen Slovakia saw its first-ever strike that ended after six days with a wage deal that gave workers the biggest pay rise among Slovakia’s carmakers, although they still earn less than Volkswagen’s employees in Germany.
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