Management also accuses one of the unions, which organized a strike two years ago, of being responsible for this situation.
The Hungarian factory of Continental in Makó, a German manufacturer of tires and automobile parts, has laid off around fifty employees. Some had worked there for decades. The affair caused a scandal because shortly after, the company hired two hundred Indonesian temporary workers.
Levente Szűrszabó, the factory director, assures that this measure was necessary: “We have the lowest unemployment rate in the region and we could not expand to meet the demand, which is why we had to turn to a third country solution to simply meet the needs born from the boom of the automobile industry. I emphasize: it’s temporary.”
The factory is going through a difficult period as it mainly supplies spare parts for diesel and gasoline cars. The parent company has not included it in its new programs at this time. Management also accuses one of the unions, which organized a strike two years ago, of being responsible for this situation. An accusation rejected by the person concerned.
“If we say now that this company is in difficulty, that its future is in danger, then after the strike, when they have fired 100 people – in our opinion in retaliation – they should not have hired 200 Indonesians a few months later late, they I shouldn’t have signed a two-year contract with them” explains Gábor Radics, president of the Rubber Industry Union.
The Fidesz government, although opposed to immigration, has made it easier to employ foreign workers. The mayor of Makó, elected by Fidesz, loudly expressed his indignation.
