A TAIWANESE producer of LCD panels and televisions, AU Optronics, opened its new manufacturing facility in Trenčín in western Slovakia on June 28. It is the company’s biggest plant in Europe and it expects to employ around 800 people by the end of 2011 and another 1,500 next year, the SITA newswire reported.
But the company has reported that it is finding a lack of interest among Slovaks and AU Optronics’ Taiwanese managers said they are having difficulty hiring employees, the Sme daily reported, writing that one of the reasons may be the basic salary of €330 per month, or about €450 with bonuses, while the average monthly salary in Trenčín Region in 2010 was €657.
Zuzana Horníková, the head of the regional Labour Office in Trenčín said 173 people had accepted employment at AU Optronics by June 28 but that several people had already left the jobs at the just-opened plant and returned to the unemployment roles, SITA wrote. Horníková noted that this is not a negative or rare phenomenon.
“Other employers face that as well – people try out a job and then for different reasons leave the employer,” Horníková said, as quoted by SITA.
The firm stated it believes its salaries are competitive for the region.
The Sme daily reported that Trenčín mayor Richard Rybníček expects an inflow of foreigners to take jobs in the facility.
