Pellegrini will discuss the future of the Bratislava Volkswagen plant at VW HQ
PM Peter Pellegrini and Economy Minister Peter Žiga will discuss the future of the Bratislava Volkswagen plant at VW HQ in Germany today. The plant is reducing its workforce by 3,000 to 11,000 and has no replacement for three models of small cars, production of which will end in 2021. VW refuses to make electric cars in Bratislava. The plant could make the cars of Škoda, as the Czech Škoda plant can’t keep up with demand.
The competitiveness of the Slovak industry suffered due to higher pay for night and weekend work, as well as a steep rise in minimum wage. The government is proposing to increase paid holiday to five weeks for all workers. Over the past nine weeks, the labor costs in the Portuguese plant of VW rose 22% to €19.4 per hour, while the costs in Bratislava rose 52% to €17.2.
