Carmaker Dacia partially resumes production on voluntary basis

Local carmaker Dacia on Tuesday partially resumed business at its mechanical and chassis plant as well as at the stamping shop of the assembly plant, both at Mioveni, planning to fully open both on May 4, according to Renault Romania Group, Dacia's owner. "In agreement with the social partners and out of deference for the protection and safety of the employees, all the protection measures in force in Romania has been implemented to progressively resume the manufacturing activity carried out on Dacia industrial platform at Mioveni. Thus, starting with April 21: the Mechanical and Chassis plant is ready to restart the activity in a reduced team, on a voluntary basis; the Assembly Plant will resume production in the Stamping shop, in 2 shifts, on a voluntary basis. From May 4, the activities of both plants will be restarted. Throughout the period when the production activity was interrupted, measures were defined and applied to protect the employees in view of their return to work. These hygiene and safety measures will be rigorously applied. Employees will be informed about the need to comply with the measures taken to protect their health and their colleagues," the company reports in a press statement posted on its website. Groupe Renault Romania specifies that since the start of the pandemic crisis, generated by the new COVID-19 virus, Groupe Renault Romania has ensured appropriate protection measures for all employees in all the sites where it operates. In a previous statement, the automaker announced that in light of current developments related to the spread of coronavirus, the production activity in Mioveni plants will be temporarily suspended from March 19 until April 5, 2020 except for the most critical activities. Established in 1898, Groupe Renault is operating in 134 countries, having sold 3.8 million vehicles in 2019. On the other hand, employees of the Ford factory in Craiova are furloughed from March 19, 2020, until April 30, receiving furlough pay of 78% of their basic pay. Ford Motor Co announced on April 3 that the measure to suspend production of vehicles and engines at most of its facilities in Europe was extended at least until May 4, according to Reuters. AGERPRES (RO - author: Daniel Badea, editor: Mariana Nica; EN - author: Corneliu-Aurelian Colceriu, editor: Adina Panaitescu)