March 17 (SeeNews) - Ford Romania will place its over 6,300 employees working at its plant in Craiova in technological unemployment between March 19 and April 5 because of the coronavirus epidemic, local media reported on Tuesday.
Ford employees will be paid 78% of their salary during that period, Mediafax news agency quoted Ford Craiova union leader Maria Manea as saying.
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"We were told that work has been interrupted. I guess there are still activities that do not require interruption, but we will see," Manea said.
Romania has reported 184 cases of coronavirus infection as of Tuesday and is in a state of nationwide emergency since Monday.
In February, Ford said it expects a record daily volume of production this year at its vehicle assembly plant in Craiova. Over 1,000 Puma and EcoSport compact SUVs will be assembled daily at the plant in southern Romania, meaning that a car will roll out every 67 seconds, Ford Romania said at the time.
Ford said it has invested over 1.5 billion euro ($1.64 billion) in Craiova since 2008 and has reached a total of 6,300 employees, working in both the vehicle assembly factory and the engine factory. About 3,400 of them have been employed in the last three years to support the production of the new EcoSport and Puma models. As the production volume of the two models is increasing steadily, Ford Craiova Vehicle Assembly Plant employees have been working in three shifts for the first time.
($ = 0.8955 euro)
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