“In all car production plants in Mladá Boleslav and Kvasiny, all Monday and Tuesday shifts are canceled. In addition, the night shift from Tuesday to Wednesday is canceled at the assembly, welding and paint shops in Mladá Boleslav, “the trade unions informed the employees in their weekly.
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The cancellation of shifts, especially in the afternoon and night, will continue in the coming days. Both assemblies, the paint shop and welding shops in Kvasiny, where the Superb, Kodiaq and Karoq models are manufactured, have canceled all Friday and Saturday shifts. In connection with the needs of production, working days in presses may also be reduced.
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According to trade unions and the company’s management, it is difficult to predict further developments, so that both parties will always agree at the beginning of each subsequent week for the next week or two. According to the unions, the mentioned program for the following week is also without guarantee, because it may happen that several trucks with missing chips will arrive and will have to jump to work quickly and complete the unfinished cars and ship them to customers.
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Decline in wages
According to the chairman of the unions, Jaroslav Povšík, the company’s management and employees do not have to worry about dismissal. “The trade union will not allow that,” Povšík assured, but according to him that there will be transfers of employees to other positions, start-up and support of natural fluctuations, recruitment will stop to the necessary minimum, retraining will be necessary.
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“Eventually, the average compensation of earnings may be reduced in the event of an obstacle on the part of the employer, but by a maximum of five percent, ie to 80 percent of the average wage,” said Povšík, according to whom it is still well above the 60 percent of wages payments and bonuses in the car factory, even the reduced remuneration remains above the average salaries in the Czech Republic.
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The mentioned 85 or 80 percent is calculated from the average earnings, which includes not only the basic tariff, but also various bonuses and surcharges. With them, the average salaries of employees in the car manufacturer are above 55 thousand crowns per month. However, employees will now lose flexible and night or Saturday shifts, for which they received high surcharges and could earn several thousand extra payments. These flexible shifts will probably not be by the end of the year.
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Model coups
The limitation of production due to lack of chips is related to the fact that the company will try to complete the maximum number of unfinished cars and will not start production of those for which completion is not ensured at least to the stage that the car is able to start and leave the line. In addition to the lack of chips, the VW Group’s significant pressure to produce electric cars also has an impact on production. Therefore, information is disseminated among employees about the cessation of production of some models, as well as fears that a production program will be ensured in the future. The production of Superb will probably move from Kvasiny to Bratislava next year.
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The new Eroq model?
“This will free up the capacity needed for the Kodiaq and Karoq SUV models, for which there is a great demand,” said carmaker spokesman Tomáš Kotera. The carmaker stopped producing a small Citigo model, recently stopped the development of the successor to the Fabia Combi, and the days of the short Fabia, into which internal combustion engines are mounted, probably have a number of days. In the factory, people also talk about the end of the Scala model. But the management refused.
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“We do not comment on plans for the future of current Škoda models. The Scala is in good demand and will continue to be produced as planned in the coming years, “said Kamila Biddle, a spokeswoman for the carmaker. However, the decline in cars with internal combustion engines is evident. The long-term bestseller Octavia is also to be electrified, and by 2030 Škoda Auto wants to launch three more electric cars. “These will be situated in terms of price and size under the current Enyaq iV model, the price of which starts at CZK 1,089,900.
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“Our priority is that as part of the transformation transition from internal combustion engine cars to electric cars, all three of our production plants in the Czech Republic will remain fully occupied and thus jobs will be secured in the future,” said Biddle. According to the head of trade unions Povšík, it is important that the carmaker has at least four to five models left. “We have to maintain the enyaq, we electrify the octavia completely, that should be our breadwinner. We will be doing eroq, which should be our next Škoda model as a compilation of kamiqu and karoqu, which is still being proposed, and there is a plan for two more cars, “said Povšík.
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“If we got at least one and the chip problems were gone, it would work,” the union chairman added. The management of the company did not comment on the information about the new model mentioned by him.
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What is a chip
Electronic component, small silicon wafer (semiconductor) with many miniature components for process evaluation and control. They are used in telephones, computers, televisions, cars. They control radios, safety systems from ABS to various driving aids, fuel injection and electric windows. There are several hundred to several thousand chips in the car, depending on the car’s equipment.
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