Valencia (EFE).- The Ford plant in Almussafes (Valencia) will apply several days of ERTE next week in vehicle production and engine assembly, in the process of joining the employment regulation file (ERE) approved for 1,124 workers of the multinational in Spain.
As planned and agreed in the last ERTE Monitoring Commission, held on April 3, the vehicle plant will have five days of shutdown between the 17th and 21st that will affect system B in the afternoon shift, while in engines will be made two days of total stop, Monday 17 and Friday 21.
For the last week of April -if there are no changes in the application of the ERTE- five-day stoppages are also planned for vehicles in system B in the afternoon shift and one day (Wednesday 26) in engines.
After the agreement on the exit plans for the employees affected by the ERE reached between the management of Ford Spain and the UGT on April 4, the next will be the first full working week in which this process will coincide with the ERTE, which remains in force until on June 30.
The day after the agreement, on April 5, the period for accessions to the ERE began, which will remain open for five months, until September 30.
Departures from May
Still with the accession process open, the departures of the workers can be produced from May since the term includes from May 2 to December 31, according to EFE sources from the UGT.
The agreement allows practically one hundred percent of the departures to be voluntary and contains a compensatory financial compensation plan for which all employees of Ford Spain in Valencia born since January 1, 1960 are eligible, except those bound by a contract temporary, relief or access to partial retirement.
Also employees up to the age of 54 at the time of leave, with compensation equivalent to 45 days per year worked with a maximum of 42 months of gross annual salary according to the salary table, plus a seniority supplement as of April 30 and a special bonus.
One year of salary plus seniority
For these workers, an annuity of gross salary plus seniority is guaranteed in any case, and for all voluntary departures an additional compensation of 40,000 euros gross is established for those prior to June 30 and 20,000 euros for those prior to September 30.
In the case of employees aged 55 to 63 at the time of leave, compensation is established according to specific tables plus a special agreement with Social Security according to law.
The monthly income plan establishes 75% of the regulatory salary for employees aged 53 and 54 years old this year up to the age of 57 and 80% from that age; 80% for those between 55 and 56 years of age, which will be 85% from the age of 57; and 85% for workers aged 57 or over.
Most of those affected in Ford Almussafes
Finally, the layoffs contemplated by the ERE were reduced by twenty and the ERE will end up with 1,124 less workers in Ford Spain, practically all of the Ford Almussafes factory, distributed among 940-960 affected by the vehicle plant and 140-160 in motors, plus 16 employees from the central offices in Madrid.
With this ERE -the third in four years, since in 2020 350 workers left and in 2021 there were 630-, the volume of workers at the Valencian plant will be reduced to around 4,600.
of the models
At the beginning of this month of April, the production of S-Max and Galaxy has ceased and production has remained in only two models, the Kuga (in the hybrid and plug-in hybrid and combustion aspects) and the Transit (which will also cease to be produced in Almussafes in mid-2024).
Of the Kuga, which began to be manufactured in Valencia in 2012, 800 units are produced daily, and of the Transit 300, up to a total volume of 1,100 vehicles.
Until the arrival of the electric ones, the Valencian plant will experience a few years of transition. At the moment, it is still waiting for the multinational to specify the new electric models that it will manufacture in Almussafes and the investments that will be necessary to integrate the electric platform in its facilities. EFE