Autoeuropa starts producing again on April 27 after the stop caused by the Covid-19 pandemic in Portugal, the company announced to its workers. Volkswagen’s Portuguese factory will thus return to production after a month and a half stop with two shifts.
At this point, it remains to be seen whether these two shifts will be in full or partial production, Fausto Dionísio, coordinator of the Autoeuropa Workers Commission (CT) told Jornal Económico.
The official explains that the return to production should be gradual as all European Volkswagen factories are closed, as well as those for component production, and that many land borders are also closed, such as between Portugal and Spain, which complicates the import of important pieces for production in Portugal.
CT advances that between the 20th to the 26th of March, before production is resumed, all workers will be on a layoff regime.
While the factory has suspended production, 10 to 15 company workers are producing 100 protective visors a day, with the aim of donating them to hospitals across the country.
The idea came from some workers who produce these visors using 3D printing. The first masks were donated “to the hospitals of Setúbal and Barreiro, but at the moment they are going to the whole country”, Fausto Dionísio told JE on March 31.
This was the way found by Autoeuropa and its workers to contribute to the fight against the coronavirus epidemic in Portugal.
In a statement released yesterday, the Workers’ Commission said that after the 22 down days scheduled for these years had expired, the company would use the “legal credits (vacation, special days), referring to past years” between the 13th and 19th of April, with the holiday period for this year “remaining unchanged”.
After April 19, workers who do not return to production would enter a layoff regime, either through partial or total stoppage of labor activity. But CT ensured that the management of VW Autoeuropa accepted its proposal to pay workers the “total monthly remuneration”.
Autoeuropa initially announced on March 16 that it would only reduce daily production, but on March 17 it announced that production would stop until March 29. Later, the date was again postponed until April 12 and now to March 27.
Autoeuropa ended 2019 with a new production record. The largest automobile factory in Portugal produced a total of 256,878 units.
This figure represents an increase of 16.3% compared to 2018, the year in which another record was reached when 223 thousand units were produced at the Portuguese Volkswagen plant, 106% more than in 2017.
Autoeuropa is producing 100 visors a day to donate to hospitals
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