Ford and UGT agree on ERTE for 500 workers in Almussafes
Ford and UGT have signed an ERTE agreement that regulates the activities of workers at the Almussafes (Valencia) plant in order to adapt to the drop in production at the plant.
This is ERTE involves stopping the day shift at automobile plants from February 13 to March 28, which They cannot affect more than 500 daily workers. and in which, in general, No one should stay in ERTE for more than 16 working days. At the engine plant, complete shutdowns were established on February 13, 19 and March 4, the UGT statement clarifies.
The economic conditions of this file will be the same as in previous ERTEs: 80 percent of real salary and 100 percent of allowances, special bonuses, vacations and length of service.
Thus, the company’s management took into account the conditions put forward by UGT during negotiations regarding the dates and number of casualties on a daily basis. According to the union, the surplus of labor “can only be associated with a specific problem associated with the lack of planned production, and not with an excess of personnel.”
For this reason, the majority union was prepared to accept only the date of March 28 as the last day of the case. “What may happen next will depend on the meeting that UGT holds with Ford management worldwide” in April, at which worker representatives will put on the table the commitments the multinational has made along the lines of the Electrification Agreement. “on which they must answer.”
STM does not support the agreement
In its turn, STM-Intersindical did not sign an agreement with the company because he stated that he would not support “large wage losses” because “Employees are once again losing 20 percent of their real daily wages.”“, he stated in the message.
The union member criticized the “painful situation” he believes the electrification deal has “sucked” the workforce into. “We are already suffering economic losses of about 10 percent of purchasing power. We have lost too much,” he lamented.
In addition, he asked what could happen so that “what used to be normal in ERTE agreements” is no longer the case, in which agreements with wage increases of up to 100 percent and obligations to pay unemployment benefits were approved. for days of effective use, for cases of early retirement, ERES and unfair dismissals.
In this sense, he criticized the transfer of rights “agreement after agreement and agreement after agreement” when we are not even guaranteed a workload sufficient to save jobs at Ford Almussafes. “The team, which, unfortunately, ERE after ERE is not being reduced,” he added.
lThe Valencia plant was selected by Ford in 2022 to produce its new electric vehicle platform starting in 2025. a decision that secured the workload for the coming years and led to an agreement with UGT whereby the company’s new agreement, signed in April of that year, included wage and flexibility measures subject to electrification. Ford’s award did not prevent the workforce from shifting as a result of the ERE, which affected 1,124 workers.
Until investments begin, the planned schedule of which has already been postponed, as the union has repeatedly warned, The plant had to adjust production due to declining sales. Ford Almussafes is ending production of the Transit van this year, with the only model until new electric models arriving is the Kuga. In January, the car company introduced a new version of this model, produced at the Ford plant in Almussafes.
The Valencia plant has been chaining different ERTEs for several years and has extended the validity of the latest file until June 30, 2023 due to the instability of the supply of semiconductors and derivative components.