AvtoVAZ seeks to prevent massive dismissals - Samara governor

NIZHNI NOVGOROD, August 22 (Itar-Tass) -- Russia's largest car
manufacturer, AvtoVAZ, seeks to prevent massive dismissals. The management
keeps the situation under control and it is exerting every effort possible
in order to return it to stability, the governor of the Samara Region,
Vladimir Artyakov, told the media on Friday after a conference on
inter-budgetary relations in Nizhni Novgorod under the chairmanship of
Deputy Prime Minister Sergei Ivanov.
Artyakov said the situation at AvtoVAZ was grave and massive
dismissals from this enterprise - the backbone of the nearby town in the
middle reaches of the Volga River - would trigger a negative reaction.
Already now many are saying that if about 30,000 are fired, the people
will be unable to pay for anything.
He confirmed that AvtoVAZ kept the situation under control and the
plans for restarting the main assembly line and the work schedules
remained unchanged. At the same time the Samara Region's governor warned
that much would be depend on how and where the market moves.
"AvtoVAZ is monitoring its program, and if the market grows, the plant
will be manufacturing products proportionately to demand," he said.
The governor confirmed that the regional government had considered the
possibility of a dismissal of 28,000-30,000 workers from the plant and
measures for their subsequent employment and that the issue was still on
the agenda, but there had been no final decision yet. There have been no
documents, or proposals from AvtoVAZ on that score to this day."
The Samara Region's governor promised that if a massive layoff did
take place in the end, everybody would be employed.