The Ford factory in Almussafes will produce at half its capacity, with only one work shift at its vehicle assembly plant, after beginning to apply the new ERTE signed as a result of the adjustment of the workforce to the new manufacturing level by the End of the assembly of the Transit, the shortage of engine parts and the drop in demand in the North American market.
The first part of the ERTE will affect 1,400 employees, who will only attend the morning shift, as reported by UGT. In the second part of the employment regulation file, the number of people affected will increase by another 600, when activity at the engine plant ceases for ten days, which will be May 20, 21, 22, 27 and 28, and on May 3, June 10, 11, 17 and 18.
UGT forecasts indicate that employees at the vehicle assembly plant will be able to work two shifts during the last four weeks of the ERTE. The union, the majority representing the factory, agreed on the file with management this Wednesday.
The new ERTE, whose validity spans from April 20 to June 20 – although in practice it begins this Monday – and with different causes than the previous one, will affect a limit of 2,300 workers, although it is estimated that no day will reach that limit. maximum figure and the number of affected people will remain between 1,400 and 2,000, with a maximum that will be reached with the absence of engine activity.
In this situation, the Kuga production peak scheduled for Monday the 22nd is postponed for a month, since the assembly plant will only work in the morning shift; If parts arrive, variations may occur.
The company has justified the new ERTE by the end this week of the production of the Transit van – the Valencian plant is left with only one model, the Kuga, until the future arrival of a new multi-energy passenger vehicle is finalized -, and due to supply problems for the manufacture of engines.
The new ERTE begins the day after the end of the one that has been applied since February 13 and which concluded on April 19 after being extended and affecting between 500 and 700 employees per day. The working conditions are the same as in the previous ones: 80% of the salary plus 100% seniority, extra payments and vacations.
STM, the other union represented at the Ford plant, demands an increase in the salary supplement to cover one hundred percent of the unemployment benefit, and greater advance notice to the workforce when there is a change in dates.
The factory is waiting for Ford’s European management to specify the details of the multi-energy passenger vehicle that it will manufacture in Valencia and, according to UGT, “the countdown” now begins to clear up those unknowns over a period that it estimates to be two months and in which the union will continue to hold meetings with the European Works Council, and the European and local management.
