AvtoVAZ says it is looking to potentially reduce its headcount to around 30,000 staff through natural wastage by the end of the decade.
The Russian producer will have slashed the number of positions from 106,000 in 2009 to 53,000 by the end of this year, but the recent arrival of CEO, Bo Andersson, from GAZ Group, appears to be dramatically accelerating the pace of job cuts.
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Despite the severe pruning, the manufacturer is at pains to insist any redundancies will not be forced and cited the “4,000 to 5,000 to 6,000” staff currently leaving per year due to natural attrition.
“The headcount reduction is in accordance with the legislation of the Russian Federation,” said AvtoVAZ VP human resources and social policy, Dmitry Mikhalenko, at the manufacturer’s plant in Togliatti.
“From the beginning of the year, recruitment is closed. We are trying to treat our people with maximum respect.”
Such vast redundancies do not appear to have provoked the level of industrial unrest which might have been the case in the West however.
It seems a hangover from the Soviet Union is a union culture that does not appear used to – or is willing to – engage in strike action to protest against such enormous bloodletting.
The AvtoVAZ Trade Union conceded in Togliatti it was “concerned” when Andersson arrived at the Samara plant – and at the start of consecutive falling months of auto sales across Russia – but seems to operate in a far more conciliatory mode than its counterparts in France and Italy might for example.
“We all understand if the company [develops] there is a stable situation – then it allows such companies to talk about their labour situation and improve their labour,” said AvtoVAZ Trade Union president, Alexander Zaitsev, at the Togliatti plant.
“When Mr Andersson came to work as president of AvtoVAZ, we were a little bit concerned how that would affect our situation here.
“We already heard about the economic situation, but we still have recently a collective agreement. Our contract will remain in force and will be fulfilled.”
Earlier this year, the Lada producer announced it would reduce its workforce by up to 10,500, but increased that number to 13,000 to leave staffing levels at 53,000 by the end of 2014.
