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Central Europe
February 1, 2019 www.intellinews.com I Page 13
Audi's Gyor unit restarts after Hungary strike shut down production
at German HQ
bne IntelliNews
Production at Audi Hungaria's plant in western Hungary restarted in the evening of January 30 after management and union leaders (AHFSZ) agreed on next year's wages in the afternoon.
AHFSZ started a week-long strike over 2019 wages on January 24, bringing the German premium car maker's plant in Gyor to a standstill and interrupting production at Audi's headquarters in Ingolstadt.
Under the agreement base pay will rise by
18%, or at least HUF75,000 (€235) per month
and workers will get non-wage benefits up to
an annual HUF400,000 for both 2019 and 2020, AHFSZ said on its Facebook page. The agreement also guarantees all workers at least one full free weekend every month from May 1, 2019. The wage agreement will be in force from January 1, 2019, until March 31, 2020.
AHFSZ demanded an 18% wage rise, but no less than HUF75,000 a month, and annual non-wage benefits of up to HUF787,000, an increase from HUF620,000 at present.
Audi Hungaria employs some 13,000 people in Gyor. AHFSZ counts more than 9,000 of those workers among its members.
Audi was forced to put production on hold at its headquarters in Ingolstadt on Monday after deliv- eries of engines from Gyor stopped. The Hungar- ian plant is one of the largest engine producers in the world, rolling out 2mn units a year.
An Audi spokesperson told MTI on January 30 that the forced shutdown in Ingolstadt would last at least until next Monday. A decision on when
to restart production is expected to be taken on Friday, the spokesperson added.
The six-day strike led to the delay in the production of some 10,000 cars, Hungarian media reported.
Production at Audi's other plant in Germany, in Neckarsulm, has not been interrupted, and it has enough engines in inventory for Thursday, too, the spokesperson said.
The cost of the strike can only be calculated after it ends, the spokesperson added.
The first strike at the Audi factory since 1993 and the longest at a multinational manufacturing company in decades opened debates on the wage costs and productivity of the Hungarian industry.
In terms of value added per labour costs, the Hungarian vehicle industry boasts the highest numbers in Europe, according to 2016 figures from Eurostat.
For every €100 on wage costs, there is €237 value created, compared to €200 in Slovakia and €216 for Poland or €160 in Germany. The figures, in theory, could justify the union's case for the strike. Union leaders say Volkswagen employees elsewhere in the region earn 25-40% more for the same job.