Posted by meb at January 13th, 2009

A total of 54,700 automotive workers lost their jobs from the Turkish sector’s top producing province of Bursa in 2008, a labor union representative told Anatolian Agency on Tuesday.

Turkish automakers cut 54,700 jobs in leading Bursa province in 2008

The job cuts that are mainly due to the rising fall in domestic and foreign demand which intensified in the last quarter, has reached a level of concern, Mehmet Kanca, representative of Turk-Is labor union said.

“We are facing figures which exceed our estimations… A total of 5,683 workers were laid-off in October, while this figures were 9,283 in November and 9,397 workers in December,” Kanca said adding that the cumulative job cuts in the last quarter of 2008 registered as much as 24,368.

Kanca, also said that the figures resulted in a monthly average of 4,725 lost jobs, a level which was concerning.

The Turkish subsidiaries of Italian Fiat and French Renault have production facilities in Bursa province, as well as Germany’s Bosch, supplier of diesel engine technologies to several automakers. More than 80 percent of the automotive output in the province is exported.

Kanca also said that the expectation for 2009 was no better than in 2008 and urged for measures which would particularly protect purchasing power and boost domestic demand.

“Excise tax and value added tax (VAT) should be either removed or reduced to a minimum… Incentives should be given to purchasing locally produced vehicles.”

Recent economic data has shown the financial crisis hitting Turkey hard — economic growth hit a six-year low in the third quarter, when gross domestic product expanded just 0.5 percent year-on-year.

Production in Turkey’s vehicle industry halved in November from a year earlier, as the leading export sector felt the impact of an abrupt downturn in European demand as a result of the global financial crisis.

Turkey’s largest export market, the European Union is in recession, while consumer confidence and demand at home are shrinking.
source: Hurriyet daily news

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