Following last week’s announcement that 2,500 workers at Bosch’s Braga factory will be starting a six-month lay-off from Monday, ANIMEE – the association representing the electrical and electronics sector in Portugal, has written an urgent letter to the government.
Describing the situation as ‘critical’, ANIMEE asks the executive to ‘reactivate the simplified lay-off regime’ (adopted during the pandemic) “immediately, and urgently” for sectors most exposed to the shortage of semi-conductor chips.
“The speed and proportionality of a coordinated public response will be crucial to avoiding a deeper industrial crisis, which could jeopardise employment, exports, investment and the competitive future of the Portuguese economy,” warns the association in a statement delivered to the Minister of Labour, Solidarity and Social Security and the Minister of Economy and Territorial Cohesion.
“As is public knowledge, the new global disruption in supply chains is already severely affecting some of our members — Bosch in Braga being in this first phase, one of the most affected — compromising the normal functioning of industrial operations, with direct impacts on exports, skilled employment and the sustainability of companies integrated into highly competitive European value chains,” says the text which points out that “other members are continuously monitoring the situation, assessing operational risks on a daily basis.”
The association explains that it has expressed its “deep concern about the current disruption in the global semiconductor supply chain caused by this crisis with the Chinese company Nexperia” – a situation created by “a decision of an eminently political nature, originating in an increasingly volatile geopolitical context.”
“It is a clear manifestation of how geopolitics is reshaping access to critical technologies, with direct impacts on the automotive industry — the first sector to suffer — and knock-on effects on Tier 1, Tier 2 and subsequent suppliers.
“When an OEM (original equipment manufacturer) is forced to stop, the entire upstream chain is put on hold, compromising the stability of sectors that are strategic for the national economy,” says the association, stressing that “the response cannot be merely technical.”
“A political and strategic approach is required, involving the Portuguese state and the European Commission, otherwise the lack of a timely and coordinated public response will generate chain disruptions in productive segments that are pillars of national exports and the balance of trade.”
The simplified lay-off scheme would provide companies with “an instrument of flexibility and resilience tailored to the current situation, mitigating immediate impacts on employment and production”, says ANIMEE.
When asked whether more companies are resorting to layoffs, Aurélio Caldeira, director-general of ANIMEE, told ECO online that so far, “formally, only Bosch has submitted a classic layoff process”, but there are other automotive industry members who are “adjusting their operations on a daily basis in order to respond to this Nexperia crisis”.
The situation is so critical, he said, that if this blockade continues for a few more days, other companies “will have to start suspending their operations”.
The possible ‘good news’ as this article went online is that China does appear to be hinting that it will loosen its grip on the export of chips.
Source material: ECO online
