The General Motors Opel factory in Gliwice, southern Poland, will create up to 700 new jobs this year to produce its new Astra IV model, a GM Poland spokesman said on Feb. 19.
"We have launched the recruitment process. We want to return to three, eight-hour shifts a day and hire 600-700 people by mid-2010 so the factory can return to full production, as was the case at the end of 2008," GM Poland spokesman Przemyslaw Byszewski said.
The Opel factory in Gliwice currently employs 2,500 people, some 500 fewer than a year ago. Roughly 40 administrative jobs are to be cut under a restructuring plan presented by Opel at the beginning of the month.
Like many of its competitors, Opel sales tumbled during the global economic crisis and were hit further by uncertainty the company's future.
The Gliwice factory saw production plummet 43.5% to 96,700 vehicles in 2009 from 171,640 in 2008.
"Our production capacity is close to 220,000 vehicles per year. Everything will depend on the volume of orders for the new Opel," Byszewski said.
Copyright Agence France-Presse, 2010
