Economy 12 December 2023, 9:06am

Minister discusses possible redundancies with Hungarian Continental factory CEO

Portfolio

Two weeks ago, news broke that layoffs were coming at Continental's Makó factory, and Népszava reported that the plant's workers learned about the layoffs from a bulletin board, and the union said that by sending domestic workers away, the opportunity would be opened up to foreigners. These allegations were refuted by the company's management in a statement. Now Economic Minister Márton Nagy has met with the management of Continental Automotive Hungary, including CEO Róbert Keszte, where they also discussed the redundancies at the Makó plant.

Népszava first reported on the layoffs in Makó on 27 November. Roland Hajdú, the local secretary of the Rubber Industry Trade Union at Continental's Makó factory, told the paper that the factory management had not informed the union about the layoffs or the extent of the layoffs. The Makó plant, ContiTech Fluid Automotive Hungária Ltd., does not produce car tyres, but car parts, employing nearly 1,800 workers.

The reasons for the redundancies were only revealed to the factory workers through the press. They were puzzled because, if the reference to a drop in demand for their products is true, the Makó plant does not seem to be expecting any future increase in demand, although this fluctuation is a common phenomenon among automotive suppliers.

They were reportedly letting go 25 workers in November and 25 in December, which is not considered as a mass layoff.

There have been rumours in the factory that the current wave of redundancies could open the door to foreign workers. The trade union's secretary, Roland Hajdú, noted that nearly 150 Indonesian workers are employed at the plant. Previously, they hired people from Serbia, and Ukraine, but they are all gone by now.

Today, Minister of Economic Development (soon to be Minister of National Economy) Márton Nagy received the management of Continental Automotive Hungary, including Róbert Keszte, CEO, at his office. During the meeting, the parties reviewed the strategic trends in the economy, with a special focus on the automotive industry, and also discussed the recent press reports about Continental.

At the meeting, the minister said that

in all cases, businesses should offer jobs to Hungarians first and only hire others if there are no Hungarian applicants.

The CEO of the company said that,

contrary to press reports, no collective redundancies affecting the employees of Continental's Makó tyre plant have taken place to date,
the redundancies concern the termination of temporary employment contracts, the expiry of fixed-term contracts and the reaching of retirement age, and
Continental is positively deviating from the legal requirements by offering severance pay to the departing employees in an amount higher than the amount required by law.

Róbert Keszte also said that Continental is committed to complying with the law and employing Hungarian workers, and therefore supports the amendments to the law on the tightening of the employment of foreign workers.