'The company’s management gave up on all the principles of their own quality policies to make the public believe a strike in Leningrad Region is not affecting the corporation’s performance as a whole,’ Chairman of Ford Motor Company’s trade union Alexei Etmanov says. He reports the whole Quality Control Department of Ford’s Russian factory joined the strikers and will not resume working until the negotiations with the management begin.



'The plant is now producing only 30 instead of the required 120 cars per shift, so I feel truly sorry for the customers who are going to get the latest Ford cars that have never undergone any quality testing,’ Mr. Etmanov added.



The strike in Vsevolozhsk, Leningrad Region, began on November 20, 2007. Workers demand a 30% pay rise and shorter night shifts.