The Spanish Ford plant will stop producing the S-Max and Galaxy models at its Almussafes (Valencia) plant, a decision that has conditioned the ERE that will affect 1,144 workers, 20% of the total. The conditions to apply this measure are now being negotiated between the unions and the management of the multinational. In such a way, that from this month the Almussafes plant will reduce its production to 1,100 vehicles per day, 73% of them of the Kuga model.
As this newspaper reported yesterday. The ERE is in its final phase of negotiation after the management’s provision for employees aged 53 and 54 to be able to adhere to the employment regulation file and to increase the amounts offered to the youngest workforce, and this Tuesday it will be announced final settlement proposal.
The nuances of the proposal imply that workers who are 53 years old this year can take advantage of the ERE, charging 70% of the regulatory salary until the same month in which they turn 57 and 75% thereafter until they are 62 years old. The agreement entails assuming the special Social Security agreement until the employee reaches 61 years of age.
In the case of employees who are 54 years old in 2023, the conditions are identical, except for the maximum date for payment of gross income, which in this case is 63 years. The special Social Security agreement is maintained until the employee reaches 62 years of age. “The negotiation is at the point of increasing the age contribution and the salary percentage as well”, explained STM-Intersindical Valenciana, after this afternoon’s meeting.
Negotiations for the new ERE began on March 10 for 1,144 employees (960 from the vehicle plant and 140 from engines, and another 20 from offices in Almussafes, and 14 from the central offices in Madrid, dedicated to marketing and sales and distribution), which represents 20% of a workforce of 5,800 workers and whose departures would take place in the second quarter, between this month of April and June.
Until now, the plant manufactured four models, Kuga, Transit, S-Max and Galaxy. The production of these last two vehicles has ceased as of April 1 as a result of the restructuring of Ford’s operations in Europe, derived from the review of the range of vehicles and the strategy towards total electrification in 2035.
In this way, the production of Almussafes remains at 1,100 vehicles per day, of which 800 are the Kuga model and 300 Transit, and the plant is still waiting for the company to specify the new electric vehicles that it will manufacture at the Valencian plant.
In Almussafes, an ERTE also continues until June 30, as a result of the semiconductor crisis, supply problems and the uncertainty created after the start of the war in Ukraine, whose next days of shutdown at the engine plant will be the 17th. and April 21, according to the latest changes in the calendar.
