VW Slovakia looking for 1,000 new staff for Bratislava

Volkswagen Slovakia wants to fill 1,000 vacant jobs at its plant in Bratislava by the end of this year, with the company planning to look for staff mainly in Slovakia, albeit the situation on the labour market in the country is pretty complicated, VW SK managing board chairman Ralf Sacht said at a press conference on Tuesday. "We're happy that we've managed to do this in the difficult situation on the Slovak labour market. Apart from that, we're looking for another 1,000 colleagues by the end of this year, which is a very demanding task," said Sacht, adding that the creation of the 1,000 jobs is related to the introduction of new products. The carmaker is looking for a total of 800 people for its body shop, painting shop and assembly hall, while the remaining 200 people should take highly skilled jobs. "We still believe that with our package [of salary and perks] and the jobs we offer we'll manage to get workers from the Slovak market. Nevertheless, we aren't turning a blind eye to the situation on the labour market, mainly in western Slovakia. We're also preparing for the possibility of not being successful [in finding enough staff from Slovakia]," said Eric Reuting, VW SK managing board member for human resources. He added that the company is talking with the Labour, Social Affairs and the Family Ministry on possibly importing workers from abroad.