OREANDA-NEWS. July 29, 2009. AvtoVAZ is to carry out massive layoffs in order to cut expenditures amid a 60% fall in production. “I am extremely downbeat on the state of affairs in Togliatti. In August, the company is to halt its assembly line, and is to reduce the working week in September. We will probable face layoffs not only at AvtoVAZ, but also at related companies”, the governor of Samara Region, Vladimir Artyakov, told journalists yesterday after the meeting of the regional government dedicated to the situation at AvtoVAZ.

The plant’s management has already taken the decision to downsize staff, but has not announced it officially, a source close to AvtoVAZ executives said. According to the same source, the anti-crisis program requires harsh actions, one of them being staff layoffs, according to an employee of a company whose head also took part in the regional government’s meeting. Allegedly, AvtoVAZ intends to lay off 27,691 employees.