Economy

Tectoy fires factory workers in SP for lack of components, says union

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Famous in the 1990s, the manufacturer of consoles and electronic games Tectoy fired workers at the Cotia (SP) factory, alleging a lack of electronic components, according to the Metalworkers Union of Osasco and Region.

According to the entity, the number of people terminated exceeds 200 — practically the total number of employees at the plant, according to the union. This Wednesday (4), the manufacturer confirmed, in a note sent to the press, that it would end its activities at the São Paulo unit, which had been operating for about two years, maintaining only production at the Manaus unit.

“The last few years have been challenging and Tec Toy SA, seeking constant evolution and improvement for those who somehow have a relationship with the company, recently defined its corporate restructuring and exclusive maintenance of the manufacturing unit in Manaus, thus ending the manufacturing activities in the State of São Paulo”, said the note signed by the company’s executive director, Valdeni Rodrigues.

Also in a note, the president of the union, Gilberto Almazan, said that the company refuses to negotiate. “We want to look for alternatives to reduce the losses to workers as much as possible. For this, we have already activated the Regional Superintendence of Labor and Employment in the state of São Paulo.”

The union says that since December the company has been publicizing among workers the difficulties to maintain production that worsened with the Ukrainian War. The entity says it recognizes that, despite the problem being caused by an external issue, the lack of semiconductors exposes the dependence that local production has on imports and the urgency of strengthening the national industry.

The manufacturer did not confirm the number of employees who were terminated or whether the end of activities at the São Paulo unit was due to the lack of electronic components. Until the publication of this report, the company had not responded to the interview request made by Sheet.

According to unionists, the news of the layoffs was received with sadness by Tectoy workers. “We regret the lack of dialogue between the company and the union, so that we could find ways to avoid these layoffs”, highlighted the director, Alex da Força.

According to the MP, 54, who worked as a production operator, the layoffs began in October last year. “The service was decreasing, they said that the parts took a long time to arrive. We stayed at home for two days, without working, last year. In December and January, people said that there was no material to work with, they beat the card and stood still.”

She says that the Cotia unit did not produce toys, but card machines and that Tectoy shared the same address with Transire Eletrônicos, in the payments segment and with whom the manufacturer made a partnership.

In an announcement on the program “Pânico”, on Jovem Pan radio, at the beginning of April, the executive director of Transire, Tiago Cabral, and Rodrigues, from Tectoy, talked about the union.

“We already had a history with Transire, when it started, it rented Tectoy facilities to make the first little machines. We helped everyone have fun [com os videogames] and now we are going to help work”, said Rodrigues. “Our factory is in Manaus, we have a service and technical assistance plant in Cotia and an office in São Paulo.”

​Also fired by Tectoy, Kátia Bispo, 51, recalls that last December, the production line came to a halt for five days, due to lack of components. “It was possible to relocate the employees to another company. In Cotia, we only assembled the card machines, the toys and cell phones were all made at the Manaus factory. The promise was that we would assemble toys and cell phones here too, it seemed be their plan.”

Asked about the layoffs at Tectoy after the partnership, Transire also had not commented until the publication of this report.

AFFECTIVE MEMORY

Founded in 1987 and successful among children in the 1990s, Tectoy became famous for its partnership with the Japanese manufacturer Sega, of the Mega Drive, and for successful releases, such as Pense Bem.

In 1994, the company held 20% of the national toy market and 75% of the video game market, according to a report by Sheet published in March of that year. The Asian crisis of 1997, which affected foreign investment, and the increase in competition marked the beginning of the decline of the company, which announced that year a request for preventive bankruptcy.

In the following decade, it no longer had the same glow. Between 2008 and 2009, Zeebo was launched, a video game created in partnership with the North American Qualcomm, but which did not work and stopped being sold in Brazil in 2011. The failure further affected the company’s accounts.

Upon turning 30, in 2017, the manufacturer took aim at nostalgia, betting on successful products from decades ago, launching the Atari Flashback 7, the Pense Bem and the Mega Drive.

In 2019, Rodrigues took over the direction of the company. The new management renovated and modernized the Manaus park, started to manufacture part of the products in Cotia and reformulated the portfolio. The line currently includes products such as tablets, smartphones, keyboards and speakers.

According to the associations that represent the electronic segments, there are no other records of layoffs made due to the lack of semiconductors in the production line.

In the case of the automotive industry, also affected by the lack of semiconductors, Volkswagen, for example, announced this Tuesday (3) that it would give collective vacations for the fifth time since the beginning of the pandemic to metallurgists at the factory in São Bernardo do Campo, in São Paulo. ABC Paulista, due to the lack of chips. The automaker had returned to working in two shifts just over a month ago.

The recent increase in Covid-19 cases in China continues to affect production chains. In the Shanghai region, different semiconductor and automobile manufacturers were forced to suspend or reduce production. An electric vehicle maker warned on April 14 that Chinese automakers may have to halt production in May if shutdowns persist in the region.

Read the full note from Tectoy:

The last few years have been challenging and Tec Toy SA, seeking constant evolution and improvement for those who are somehow related to the company, recently defined its corporate restructuring and exclusive maintenance of the Manufacturing unit in Manaus, thus ending the manufacturing activities in the State of Sao Paulo.

Furthermore, in consideration of the need for data protection, respect and preservation of our employees, Tec Toy SA informs that it does not comment on internal measures and procedures.

Valdeni Rodrigues – C&O Tec Toy SA

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