In a press release, Audi Brussels spokesperson Peter D’hoore confirms that the interim contracts will not be extended, a decision that is “tough” to make. “Challenging economic conditions and the lack of predictability of subsidies in some markets are currently causing some reluctance among customers to purchase fully electric vehicles,” it said. “Since we only produce electric cars at Audi Brussels, we are involved and have to adapt our production program.”
The factory in Forest only builds the large electric Audi Q8 e-tron. Audi recently launched a smaller, cheaper counterpart to the Q8, the Q6 e-tron, but it is not made in Forest.
The unions were informed on Thursday during a long-planned meeting of the works council. The ABVV has given a strike notice and hopes to negotiate with the management to reduce the figure of 371 dismissals.
Impossible compromise
At the beginning of last month, when the tire was shut down in the factory for two weeks, trade unionists heard that additional weeks of temporary unemployment might be introduced. A reduction in production speed was also considered at the time, it said.
“But no one expected it to happen so quickly,” says Franky De Schrijver, union representative at ABVV. “It’s a cold shower. There was no preparatory conversation, even though the impact is enormous. We expected an intermediate step, hoped to reach a compromise and keep people on board, but that turned out not to be possible.”
De Schrijver says that the band is still at a standstill at the moment, and that the strike notice will take effect when that temporary unemployment ends, on April 8. Reducing the production rate would mean less temporary unemployment, although this is limited.
The survival of the factory in Forest is in any case threatened, as the Q8 will no longer be made in Forest from 2027. A new model has not yet been assigned. The ABVV expects to know in November whether or not a new model will be allocated. “We meet with management about this every six weeks. Audi traditionally announces in November which series it will produce in which factories.”
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Tags: Audi Brussels reduces production dismisses temporary employees
