Wescast to Lay off 250 people

Wescast Industries Inc., the world's leading supplier of cast exhaust manifolds for passenger cars and light trucks lays off 250 employees from its factory in Oroszlány, west of Budapest, the Hungarian news agency MTI reports.

The news agency learned from the Vasas (Iron Workers') Trade Union that 250 of the 800 employees will be made redundant from the factory of the Chinese-owned automotive exhaust solutions provider.

The vice president of the trade union, Zoltán László added that so far the employment of 73 own employees and 55 borrowed employees has been terminated. The employer informed employees that if someone did not envision their future at the company, they would pay them statutory benefits and 'let go of the employee'.

The trade union official also said they have a good relationship with the company management, but there are issues on which they disagree. There was no production in the Wescast plant between April 25 and May 11. Workers were sent to downtime for which they are supposed to receive a basic wage, but the company did not pay this, citing an unforeseen and unavoidable obstacle.
According to the Trade Union Confederation, the loss of production due to the epidemic is at the business risk of the company, the burden of which cannot be passed on to the employees.