Photo/Illutration Cars manufactured by Toyota Motor Corp. are ready for export at Nagoya Port on Dec. 7, 2021. It’s the port where the largest number of cars are exported from Japan. (The Asahi Shimbun/ Mari Endo)

A major Toyota Motor Corp. supplier has asked employees to take a day off with reduced pay this month, a spokesperson for the supplier, Toyoda Gosei Co., said on Wednesday, reflecting the hit from the chip shortage and China lockdowns.

Toyoda Gosei, which makes air bags, brake hoses and radiator grilles, has asked domestic employees to take a day of leave in June following production suspensions by Toyota and other automakers, the spokesperson confirmed to Reuters, declining to name the automakers.

Toyoda Gosei and its union are together considering whether similar measures will be needed in July or beyond, according to a person familiar with the matter, who declined to be identified because the information hasn’t been made public.

Toyoda Gosei is a major supplier to top shareholder Toyota and also supplies other automakers. It employs some 6,500 people in Japan, not including contract and dispatch workers, according to the spokesperson.

A Toyota spokesperson declined to comment.

Toyoda Gosei’s request applies to all of its entire domestic workforce, including temporary and dispatch workers, according to the person and two others. It made a similar request last month, but that was limited to workers on its factory lines, two of those people said.

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