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Workers at the Ford Vsevolzhsk plant outside St. Petersburg have decided to go on strike Tuesday night bringing the factory to a halt on Wednesday. A regional court ruled Tuesday to call the strike illegal. The plant’s trade union is determined to appeal the decision at the Supreme Court, which will leave the factory idle for more than 40 days. The strike may undermine Ford’s leadership on the Russian market this year, experts say.

More than 1,000 workers of Ford Vsevolzhsk met on Tuesday to announce a general strike starting at 12 pm February 14, the plant’s trade union leader Alexey Etmatnov told Kommersant. The strike will see a complete halt of production at the plant which daily assembles 300 Ford Focus cars, the most popular foreign car make in Russia.

In the meantime, the Leningrad Regional Court on Tuesday recognized the fact of the labor conflict and a motion to start a strike illegal, Ford Motor Company reported. The management hopes that the plant will keep working as usual. Alexey Etmanov said Ford’s employees would contend the decision at the Russian Supreme Court. “The strike – or the total halt of Ford Vsevolzhsk – will be going on until the Supreme Court passes down a decision on our suit,” he said. The Supreme Court has at least 30 days to settle the conflict.

The plan’s trade union staged a strike in fall 2005 demanding a 30-percent pay rise, which still kept Ford Vsevolzhsk working.

The plant now risks losing between $3 and $6 million daily with the assembly line off. Ford may lose up to $240 million if the plant is idle for 40 days. Last year Ford sold Russia’s largest number of foreign make cars, 116,000. However, the halt of production may undermine Ford’s leading position clearing the way to affordable cars from Hyundai and Chevrlet, market experts note.

8 UR VETTE

And Fords problems conyinue...........