Visteon Autopal will lay off 550 employees at the Novy Jicin factory, one of three it operates in the Czech Republic. The layoffs are due to the global financial crisis as well as the strong Czech currency; Visteon Autopal, a subsidiary of multinational components supplier Visteon, export 90% of their production. The first 250 people will be let go on 31 January 2009 and another 300 on 28 February, head of the company's trade union organisation Antonin Majer told local daily Pravo. Visteon Autopal already made 200 workers redundant on 14 November, spokeswoman Veronika Prudilova stated. In exchange for having left voluntarily, they received six months' pay. Before the onset of the present financial crisis, the company employed almost 4,000 workers. Now they have cut down from four to three shifts, and limited weekend work. Visteon Autopal make mainly headlamps for over 20 customers, including market-leading Czech OEM Skoda.