Caracas, Sep 9 (EFE) Mitsubishi Motors Corp. has said that it was reversing a decision to shut down its plant in the eastern Venezuelan city of Barcelona.
“MMC Automotriz S.A. announces that starting Sep 21, workers and employees should undertake their productive activity on their regular schedules,” the company’s board of directors said in a statement.
The 1,412 workers at the Barcelona facility assemble Mitsubishi, Hyundai and FUSO vehicles.
The MMC board said: “The firm will continue with its plan for improvement of aspects linked to worker health and safety.”
MMC suspended operations in Venezuela Aug 24, citing low productivity, absenteeism, lack of discipline and hostility on the part of workers at the plant in Barcelona.
The firm also complained of “intentional acts of sabotage and intimidation within a framework of impunity”.
Two days after the shutdown of the factory, Venezuela’s labour ministry declared the move “illegal” and ordered MMC to resume production.
The company responded that reopening the plant was impossible in the absence of “the necessary safety conditions”, prompting the labour ministry to embark on a mediation effort.
Separately, the Venezuelan subsidiary of General Motors resumed operations Monday at its two assembly plants after a nearly three-month hiatus, thanks in part to the efforts of authorities in Caracas.
General Motors de Venezuela ceased production June 16, saying that it had run out of materials because of the government’s tardiness in providing dollars to pay for needed inputs.
Venezuela’s leftist government established exchange controls in February 2003 after a costly opposition-led general strike.
The firm’s two plants, both in the central city of Valencia, employ a total of 4,000 people, and support an additional 74,000 jobs with the firm’s Venezuelan suppliers.
