Hungarian workers train guest workers then get fired from Hungarian factory? – UPDATE

Hungarian workers at Continental’s Makó factory face dismissal following the training of guest workers.

The German rubber company Continental’s Makó plant is trying to make room for foreign workers by dismissing domestic workers, according to the local labour union.

The union condemns the lack of communication from factory management, with local secretary Roland Hajdú highlighting to Népszava that the layoff extent and details were undisclosed, though legally not obligated. Approximately 25 workers each in November and December will be laid off, yet this move doesn’t qualify as a collective redundancy.

ContiTech Fluid Automotive Hungária Ltd. in Makó does not produce car tyres but focuses on car parts, employing nearly 1800 individuals. Surprisingly, employees only learned of their dismissals through the media.

Only Hungarians were laid off

The reasons behind their dismissals are not known, but it is striking that only Hungarian workers were made redundant to their knowledge. Rumours are circulating in the factory that the dismissal of Hungarians could open the door to foreign workers. Currently, there are some 150 Indonesian workers working at the factory.

According to the union, the local management seeks to heighten worker vulnerability, especially for those far from home, making it challenging to assert their interests.

“For example, due to the increase in orders in 2022, we have hired more than 500 people in Makó during this period. But now, due to the deterioration of the market and the backlog of orders, we have to take steps to ensure that our business remains sustainable and our employees are affected as little as possible. It is on the basis of these principles that we have taken the decision to make the aforementioned redundancies, which we have communicated to local stakeholders in accordance with the law. The current move will largely affect temporary agency workers and will be implemented by the end of 2023,” Continental’s management wrote.

Hajdú emphasises that many of the fifty dismissed workers had dedicated two decades to the Makó factory, with some even responsible for training Indonesian workers just six months prior.

UPDATE from Continental

We received the following statement from Continental on the matter:

“We would like to draw your attention to the fact that the recent article on your website about the Continental factory in Makó, following the statement of Roland Hajdú, Secretary of the Makó Rubber Industry Trade Union (Makói Gumiipari Szakszervezet), contains a number of deliberately untrue statements and out-of-context information. Unfortunately, the Makói Rubber Industry Trade Union regularly attacks our company with similarly malicious, deliberately untrue and twisted statements.

In response to the article referred to, we are taking legal action against the union, in this case against its secretary Roland Hajdú, and we are making the following statement to your newspaper.

In conclusion, we would like to underline that as a responsible employer, we always strive to respond appropriately to changes in the external business environment. For example, we have added more than 500 employees in Makó during this period due to the increase in orders in 2022. But now, due to the deterioration of the market and the backlog of orders, we have to take steps to ensure that our business is sustainable and that our employees are affected as little as possible.

It is on the basis of these principles that we have decided to make the aforementioned redundancy adjustment, in which we positively derogate from the legal requirements and, in accordance with our collective agreement, offer our departing employees a higher severance payment than required by the legislation.

The general information referred to in the article has been published through our usual digital and face-to-face internal communication channels, which may indeed include bulletin boards in the production halls of some of our teams carrying out physical work, but in no way has it been limited to these channels.

Contrary to the press reports, we have already shared at this stage the reason for the redundancies (which is the aforementioned reduction in order books) and our HR colleagues personally inform our staff personally affected by the redundancies.

With regard to our duty to inform, we would like to stress that we have informed the Works Council, where the Makó Rubber Industry Trade Union has an elected representative, in accordance with the legal requirements. It is important to stress, however, that the representative of the Makói Rubber Industry Trade Union, Roland Hajdú, deliberately does not attend the meetings of the Works Council organised by us, thus excluding the union from the official information chain by his own decision.

With regard to the determination of those affected by the redundancies, we would like to note that the selection is based on merit, not nationality. In the process, of course, foreign colleagues have been considered and are also included in the redundancies for underperformance.

Contrary to press reports, due to negative trends in the automotive industry in the area affected by the redundancies, there is no recruitment process planned either now or in the near future, so speculation about the recruitment of foreign staff is not true.

As we indicated in our previous statement, the majority of the redundancies concern agency workers and the law allows agency workers to be employed for a maximum of 5 years. Therefore, it is not true that the majority of the staff leaving have been with us for more than 20 years.”

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