Nissan to hire 700 people in Barcelona and work 24/7 for the next 3 months

Barcelona (ACN).- The factory that Nissan has in Barcelona will be working 24 hours a day and 7 days a week for the first time in its 30 years of existence in order to increase the production of the Pulsar saloon car and the NV200 van. In addition, it will hire 686 new temporary workers to deal with this production peak, as has been announced by the Japanese car multinational. As from the 20^thof October, Nissan will hire 86 new staff in the Catalan capital to strengthen the current night shift on week days, which will be covered by 500 workers in total. Furthermore in early January, 600 additional staff will be hired to work on the weekends. Nissan decided to allocate the production of its Pulsar saloon car to Barcelona in February 2013, after the company and trade unions reached an agreement to improve competitiveness. Furthermore, in Barcelona in May 2014, it started to assemble its first electric van model. In fact, Nissan's Catalan factory has become one of the group's most competitive factories thanks to this working conditions agreement and to the factory's strategic location next to Barcelona's port.

In the first 3 months of 2015, the Barcelonan factory will be working 24/7 for the first time in the 30 years that Nissan has been assembling cars in the Catalan capital. The production increase will come with new labour contracts. The process will be done in two steps. Initially, 86 new temporary workers will enlarge the night shift from Monday to Friday to produce the Pulsar sedan and the NV200 van. Secondly, 600 new staff will be hired to work on the weekend shift from January to March, which means that during those three months, the Catalan factory will be working without interruption.

In the last 2 years Nissan has invested greatly in its Barcelonan factory. In May 2012, Nissan announced a 100 million investment to build its new electric van model in the Catalan capital, the e-NV200, which began to be assembled two years later. Furthermore, in February 2013 it announced that Barcelona would be building its new sedan model. In May 2014 it announced a €110 million investment and the hiring of 1,000 workers to work on the Pulsar model until 2015. This new saloon car mode is only assembled in Barcelona and it began to be built in July to be sold worldwide.