The company accepts the union’s claims and reaches an agreement for the departure of 1,124 workers, 19% of the factory’s workforce.
The management of Ford Almussafes reached an agreement with UGT, the majority union, to carry out the ERE announced in the factory, which will finally affect 1,124 workers, 20 less than planned (19% of the total of 5,900). The plan envisages incentive dismissals with 45 days per year worked and an extra contribution of up to 40,000 euros for leaving before July. There will also be early retirements, starting at 53 years of age.
This was communicated on Tuesday by the trade union organization itself, which published the document signed by its representatives and those of the American multinational. In the same document it is stated that the incentive leave will be 45 days per year worked with a maximum of 42 monthly payments.
In turn, employees who take advantage of them will have an “additional compensation” of 40,000 euros if they leave before July and 20,000 euros if they do so between July and October.
As for the early retirements, as demanded by the union, they will start at the age of 53, with a salary that will go from 75% to 80% when they reach 57. The conditions are the same for employees aged 54.
Workers who are 55 or 56 years old will be able to take early retirement at 80% of their salary, a percentage which will rise to 85% when they reach 57.
Ford Almussafes will dispense with the aforementioned 1,124 employees in order to fill the production valley it faces until 2026. The factory has a long-term future, because it has been chosen by Ford to manufacture two of the brand’s new 100% electric cars. But it faced a large staff surplus until it reached that milestone.
“Approximately 1,100 jobs are affected, primarily due to the already announced cessation of production of the S-Max and Galaxy models in April 2023. Ford will work constructively with the unions to reduce the impact of this situation on employees, their families and the local community,” the company told its workers in its first statement on Tuesday.
The plant has retained for a few months the production of the Connect van that it was going to lose, but it will also stop producing it. It should be recalled that it also recently lost production of the Ford Mondeo.
STM dissociates itself
UGT defended its vote in favor on Tuesday because the company “has agreed to its main demand” and “has offered voluntary exit plans for those born in 1969 and 1970”. “It has also significantly improved the amounts offered for voluntary redundancy,” said the union, which “trusts” that the agreement will serve to resolve the ERE with “100% voluntariness”.
“The negotiations have been complicated, both because of the amount of surplus personnel proposed, as well as because of the age groups existing in the factory,” the organization said. “It has been key to have the agreement for electrification, since, while guaranteeing the continuity of the factory, it has allowed us to demand from the local and European Ford management the commitment it has with the workforce,” it added. “It was obliged to lower the ages for joining the Plan and to set decent exit conditions,” he concluded.
For its part, the opposition union, STM Intersindical, has not signed the ERE, but stresses that “it is not a bad agreement”. The organization regrets that “it does not give priority to people by seniority.” “Unfair situations could have been avoided, for those workers who have given so much to the company and are crushed by the heavy workloads to which they are subjected in the chains,” he said.
Secondly, the trade union organization warned that the agreement “does not include a voluntary nature”, while justifying its refusal to sign the agreement in order to “avoid traumatic departures in any case”.