Gorenje representative Denis Oštir said that the new workers would start already in September, would get fixed-term contracts and were needed in all of the company's production facilities in Velenje, mostly in the production of washing machines and driers.

Gorenje, which was taken over by China's Hisense last year, initially expected 270 workers would be made redundant at its parent company in Velenje, but ended up terminating a total of 60 contracts of employees working in back office jobs tied to production, such as storers and quality controllers.

Oštir told the STA that all had been offered employment in production, but only some of them accepted.

As part of reorganisational changes, which have been under way for some time, Gorenje has offered new contracts to a total of 1,393 back office employees, preserving existing wages and other rights.

Gorenje, which employs over 4,000 workers in Slovenia and abroad, recently announced that restructuring would not only be limited to the parent company and would also affect all subsidiaries and business units abroad.

The company has also announced it will build a new TV manufacturing plant that will employ 1,000 workers.