Staff of the Izhevsk Automobile Plant published an open letter to President Vladimir Putin with a request to prevent the “destruction of the plant”, reporting on the social networks the “extremely negative” situation at the enterprise.
The plant is out of operation due to the lack of parts for the production of cars.
The French owners of the factory sabotaged
– workers noted that only 40% of Vesta components are produced in Russia, and the rest are brought from abroad.
According to the union leader of the Lada Izhevsk automobile plant, Viktor Nazarov, so far there has been no reaction to the letter from the leadership and officials of Udmurtia.
“We are trying to convince them that production cannot be delayed. We were told it was necessary.
We are worried that we will be left without cars and factories. “We have no hope,” Viktor Nazarov, the union leader of the Lada Izhevsk auto plant, said in an interview with socialbites.ca.
The union emphasizes that the level of localization in the factory has not changed since 2015. According to union members, AvtoVAZ management has already decided to move the production of Vesta from Izhevsk to Tolyatti, since the production facilities at the “home” site are twice as high and are chronically underutilized.
Earlier, the head of AvtoVAZ Maxim Sokolov stated that it will be possible to resume production of Lada Vesta before 2023, when new suppliers appear. Now, alternatively, the regional administration, in turn, promised to organize the assembly of Lada Largus electric models at the Izhevsk site.
“It turned out that the top management of AvtoVAZ deliberately cheated.
They’re going to take our Vesta, take out the equipment, and leave us with the promise of producing an electric Largus that only exists on paper today. It takes 2-3 years of hard work for this launch to happen,” the workers call.
The union notes that the demand for electric cars is low, so the staff of the Izhevsk Automobile Plant, which today has about three thousand people, will have to be reduced by 70%.
Complete misunderstanding
According to Nazarov, on August 2, representatives of AvtoVAZ will meet with the staff of the Izhevsk plant. On August 4, the head of the Udmurt Republic, Alexander Brechalov, and the head of AvtoVAZ, Maxim Sokolov, will come to the operation to clarify the future fate of the plant.
Despite Messages Nazarov, the insider explains, that now all the equipment for the production of Lada Vesta remains at the plant. Now the interlocutor says that from the leadership of AvtoVAZ there will be no answers about the future.
“Now there is a complete misunderstanding. Denis Manturov (head of the Ministry of Industry and Trade – socialbites.ca) is also silent.
The mood is negative. Families will collapse, staff will lose large salaries,” complains the union leader.
According to the union activist, workers at the idle factory are forced to take temporary jobs to feed themselves: painting walls, cutting grass and collecting garbage. The source says that currently about half (1.5 thousand) of all employees of the enterprise are employed in these jobs.
The AvtoVAZ press service noted that at socialbites.ca’s request to comment on the workers’ call to the President of Russia, they are considering various scenarios for loading the production facilities in Tolyatti and Izhevsk. All AvtoVAZ Group personnel of more than 40 thousand people”.
In other words, the company made it clear that they should not think only about Izhevsk workers. Final decisions are scheduled to be made after the representative of the Volga Automobile Plant is approved by the board of directors in August-September 2022.
The head of the Udmurt Republic, Alexander Brechalov, in a conversation with socialbites.ca, in turn, promised to solve the problem with the employment of workers.
“If the employees want or are forced to change jobs, we have open positions, and we have a demand for highly qualified specialists at other production facilities in the republic,” Brechalov said. Said.
Correct decision
Maxim Kadakov, editor-in-chief of Za Rulem magazine, in a conversation with socialbites.ca noted that some employees of the Izhevsk Automobile Plant have already found and found work in the Kalashnikov concern, which has increased production.
“People are emotionally understandable. Now losing a job is scary, times are tough. The letter was signed by nearly 1,000 people out of 40,000 and decisions are made in the interest of the entire company,” says Kadakov.
He considers the transfer of production from Izhevsk to Togliatti the right decision.
Thus, it will be possible to gather the production of all models, including the Vesta and the crossover announced on its base, in one place and provide a faster assembly rate.
Vesta’s engines and gearboxes were previously shipped from Togliatti to Izhevsk, which was costly in terms of unnecessary logistics. However, the editor-in-chief of Za Rulem believes that the cost of the Vesta car is unlikely to fall, despite the potential savings.
Kadakov argues that it makes sense to start the contract for the assembly of cars of another brand in Izhevsk, the plant can be leased to a foreign company. The source added that AvtoVAZ’s strategy should be linked to the development strategy of automotive production, which President Putin instructed to develop.