Valencia (EFE) .
Another 20 office employees at the Almussafes (Valencia) plant and around 14 at Ford’s central offices in Madrid, dedicated to marketing and sales and distribution, will be included in the regulation file, according to EFE union sources.
Last Friday the negotiating commission of the ERE held the first session and this Thursday will continue with the meetings, within the period of one month that the negotiation period of the file counts, which is part of the resizing of the workforce initiated by the multinational in Europe to electrify its range of vehicles.
The UGT union has affirmed that the “more than considerable volume” of employment adjustment “makes it difficult” to reach an agreement that guarantees the voluntary nature of 100% of the casualties through accompaniment plans towards retirement and incentivized casualties.
Younger squad
After the last ERE of 2021 with which the older workers left, Ford Almussafes has a younger workforce, of about 5,800 people, in which no more than 500 employees are over 56 years of age, according to union calculations, so It seems difficult to agree one hundred percent voluntary departures.
In addition, the engine plant, with a thousand jobs and which supplies engines to the United States and also manufactures for the hybrid Kuga, faces difficulties in the medium term due to the electrification process of the multinational.
UGT Ford, majority in the Works Council of the Almussafes plant, points out that it is aware that the current situation is not the same as it was two years ago when the last ERE was negotiated and, therefore, the negotiation is going to be complicated , in the same way as reducing the impact of the file on the number of people affected.
Now there is a Ford adjustment plan that has announced that it will eliminate 3,800 jobs in Europe, 11% of its total workforce in this region, as part of its transition plan for the exclusive manufacture of electric vehicles, and a possible closure of the German plant in Saarlouis, warns the union about the current situation.
Regarding the negotiation of the ERE in Spain, the company has stated that it will work constructively with the unions to reduce the impact on employees, while the UGT warns that the company cannot expect to lower the conditions of the previous plans, but rather seek the largest number of volunteers, while another of the unions, the STM, affirms that it will not consent to any traumatic exit.
The next meeting of the negotiating commission of the ERE will be held on March 16, at 10:00.