The strike at the supplier Neue Halberg Guss (NHG) has consequences for customers in the automotive industry. “The fact is, at the moment we can not deliver, not produce through the strike, which of course affects our customers,” said a spokesman for the Prevent group, which had taken over the supplier in January.
VW therefore announced: “There are initial impairments of production, but we can absorb these through flexibility measures.” The production continues.
Also Opel has bottlenecks as a result of the labor dispute. At the Eisenach plant, therefore, closing days planned for July would be brought forward to June, according to a spokesman for the PSA subsidiary. In the short term, production in other vehicle plants is not affected. “We continue to work with the supplier to solve the problem.”
In addition to VW and Opel, all major car manufacturers and several truck manufacturers are NHG’s customers.
Why is there a strike?
On Saturday employees at the Leipzig plant had begun to prevent the delivery of already completed engine blocks. Now they have continued the blockade. They formed a human chain to keep trucks from entering the camp. Several trucks jammed on the road in front of the factory.
The closure of the driveway should last until Friday, said Heinz Volkmer, a member of the IG Metall strike committee. The labor union wants to increase the pressure on the employer and enforce a social wage agreement with the supplier. According to her, NHG wants the plant in Leipzig with 800 employees close , in Saarbrücken 300 of currently 1500 places are to be omitted.
Volkswagen falls away as a customer
The reason for the planned downsizing and closure of the site is that Volkswagen is withdrawing as the main customer of NHG. The management of Neue Halberg Guss had turned to the staff at the weekend and called for an end to the strike. “We still have customers who trust us – but with every day customers wait for deliveries and are threatened by the strike, we lose confidence and strike themselves into unemployment,” wrote managing director Alexander Gerstung in one open letter.
Volkswagen has long been in dispute with Prevent, behind which is the Bosnian-born entrepreneurial family Hastor. It had hit the headlines two years ago when the Prevent group with its empire belonged to Volkswagen argued over the delivery of parts and at times paralyzed the carmaker’s production.