Seat proposes cutting hours at Spain plants

 

Seat, the Spanish car firm owned by Volkswagen , said on Monday it wanted workers to take turns to stay at home in order to cope with a fall in demand.

It is proposing to have 571 workers a day stay at home at Martorell and Zona Franca, its factories in Catalonia, on a rotating basis, between September and December.

It wants to halt production for 16 days on one of its lines, between September and December, affecting 2,800 workers, and stop production for 35 days next year on another line, affecting 3,800 workers.

"The measures are aimed at guaranteeing the continuation of all staff at Seat as well as an adequate relationship between production and demand for our products in the market," SEAT said in a statement.

Seat had managed to halve its net loss to �30 million last year and grow sales 20.6% to �6.1 billion thanks to successful sales of the Audi Q3.

However, like all car companies, it is battling weak demand in southern European countries. Spanish car sales fell 0.7% year-on-year in June.

Seat has made its proposals to unions and the regional government in Catalonia and said it would now hold a 15-day consultation period.