Ford and UGT have agreed on a new ERTE at the Valencian plant in Almussafes

Address Ford and UGTthe majority union at the Almussafes plant (Valencia), agreed to launch a new Temporary Employment Rules File (ERTE), which will be in effect until March 28 to adapt to the reduction in production at the plant.

This measure includes downtime of day shifts at car factories from February 13 to March 28. They may not affect more than 500 daily workers and in general no one should be greater than 16 working days in ERTE. At the engine plant, complete shutdowns were established on February 13, 19 and March 4, the UGT statement clarifies.

Thus, the economic conditions of this file will be the same as in the previous files, i.e. 80% of real salary and 100% additional payments, special remuneration, vacation and seniority. Thus, the company management took into account the conditions put forward by the union during negotiations regarding the dates and number of victims daily. For UGT, excess labor “can only be attributed to punctual problem due to lack of planned production, and not due to excess staff.

Waiting for electric cars

For this reason, the trade union center was ready to accept only the date of March 28 as the last day trial. “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.” , according to which they must answer“, as explained.

The Valencia plant has been selected by Ford in 2022 to produce its new platform. electric vehicles starting in 2025, a decision that secured the workload in the coming years and led to an agreement with UGT, so that the company’s new agreement, signed in April of that year, would include wage measures and flexibility with electrification. Despite this, the Ford award did not prevent the workforce from changing as a result of the ERE, which affected 1,124 workers.

Although investments have not begun, the planned schedule has already been delayed, as the union has repeatedly warned, the plant has had to adjust its production in response to reduction in sales Suffered. In fact, Ford Almussafes is ending production of the Transit van this year and the only model until new electric models arrive is the Kuga. In January, the car company introduced a new version of this model, produced at the Ford plant in Almussafes. The Valencia factory produces linking different ERTEs several years and extended the last file until June 30, 2023 due to the instability of the supply of semiconductors and derivative components.