German carmaker Audi has been forced to pause production at its headquarters in Ingolstadt because of a strike in Hungary, a company spokesman confirmed for broadcaster Bayerischer Rundfunk on Monday.

Audi is shutting down production in Ingolstadt on Monday and Tuesday because its base in Győr (NW Hungary) has stopped delivering engines.

Audi uses just-in-time production and its inventories are not large, the broadcaster noted.

The Audi Hungaria Independent Union (AHFSZ) started a week-long strike over wages on Thursday, bringing production at the plant in Győr to a “practical halt”.

The union is demanding a wage increase of at least 18 percent, but no less than 75,000 forints (EUR 235) a month. They also want the annual threshold for non-wage benefits raised to 787,000 forints from 620,000 forints.

Management last proposed a wage increase on a scale “nearly the same” as an earlier offer to raise wages 20 percent over two years, union leaders said.

Audi Hungaria employs some 13,000 people at its base in Győr (NW Hungary). AHFSZ counts about 9,000 of those workers among its members.

featured photo by Csaba Krizsán/MTI