The workers at the Ford plant will be forced into vacation from the December 24 to the January 24, as the automotive giant decided to put a stop to the production process. Workers will still be payed with about two thirds of their actual wages.
Spokeswoman Yekaterina Kulinenko said that this measure extends the usual holiday by two weeks. The same person was quoted by detnews.com as saying that "the decision was made due to the situation on the market and declining demand."
Another Ford spokesman said, according to the Herrald Tribune, that "The company decided to cut Ford production volumes in Russia because of the situation on the market and lower sales forecasts for the automobile industry in general."
Ford produces about 75,000 cars in Russia and the manufacturer is well known in this country as the Ford Focus is the best selling car, easily surpassing Japanese and European competition. The carmaker has plans to retool the plant into producing the new Mondeo while the workers are in vacation.
This isn't the first manufacturer to stop production of its plants because of the economic crisis. Renault has done the same thing with some of its factories forcing them to cease their activities for short periods of time.
In Romania, Dacia's Pitesti-based factory was closed from the 20th of November until the 7th of December, the Filins plant in France is closed from November 20 until December 30, the STA Ruiz is shut down between December 10 to January 3, and the Spanish plants in Valladolid and Palencia, closed their doors for approximately 15 days.
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