Ford Almussafes takes a breath whereas ready for the electrical ones after being left with a minimal workforce and manufacturing solely of the Kuga | EUROtoday

The Valencian plant Ford You start to see the sunshine on the finish of the tunnel. The exit continues to be far-off, however the firm's resolution to award the manufacturing unit Almussafes The manufacturing of a brand new “multi-energy passenger vehicle” represents a reduction for the workforce after years of uncertainty and lack of definition on the a part of the corporate about what its plans had been to undertake the electrification technique. The instant way forward for Ford Almussafes, due to this fact, has simply been confirmed after the assembly on the highest stage this Wednesday within the English city of Dunton.

“The main thing is resolved, which does not mean that everything is resolved,” sources from sources assessed this Thursday. UGT, majority union within the Valencian manufacturing unit. The instant factor for the Ford Almussafes workforce was to safe a brand new workload now that is about to cease manufacturing a single mannequin, the Kuga, which has been and is the flagship of the plant. In reality, in Almussafes as much as three fashions have been discontinued in recent times. Upon withdrawal of Mondeo observe the fashions S-Max y Galaxy.

And on April 17 say goodbye completely to the Transit van, with out Ford administration having but specified which electrical fashions will likely be manufactured in Almussafes. It just isn’t a minor challenge, as a result of the upkeep of employment is straight linked to the workload assumed by a manufacturing unit whose workforce is at the moment at historic lows.

The 2023 ERE, which led to the departure of 1,124 individuals, diminished the workforce to round 4,800 employees. A determine, in any case, that’s removed from the 9,000 workers that has been reached within the years of biggest exercise. In this sense, UGT trusts that the task of the brand new mannequin will permit sustaining “sufficient workload” to keep away from new staffing changes whereas ready for the arrival of the long-awaited electrical autos. Of course, nobody is conscious that manufacturing electrical vehicles requires much less labor.

Last yr's ERE at Ford Almussafes was already straight associated to the discount within the workload brought on by the lack of the S-Max and Galaxy fashions. The employment regulation file was controversial not solely due to the big variety of departures it concerned, but additionally as a result of the corporate agreed to decrease the age to profit from early retirement. The pact reached with the unions set her at age 53, within the midst of controversy over the pension reform promoted on the time by the Government of Spain, which, nonetheless, remained silent at the moment.

The one in 2023 was the second main ERE that Ford's Valencian plant needed to face, which in 2021 already laid off 630 individuals. The pandemic, the truth is, marked a turning level within the decline of the manufacturing unit of Almussafes, since since then the workers has virtually lived chaining short-term employment regulation recordsdata (ERTE): if first it was the stoppage of manufacturing, then it was the availability disaster, the drop in gross sales in full reconversion of the enterprise and the market …

Since then, Ford Almussafes has not raised its head. What's extra, the corporate's announcement – which has been greeted with enthusiasm by the president of the Government, Pedro Sánchez, and that of the Generalitat Valenciana, Carlos Mazón -, comes in full drive of the very ERTE. In this case, the forecast is that it will likely be prolonged till April 19, two days after the lack of the Transit.

Actually, Almussafes has virtually prevented the closure when in 2022 it managed to prevail over the German manufacturing unit in Saarlouis within the inside battle that broke out to see which might be the one that may stick with the electrical fashions. The Valencian victory, nonetheless, quickly proved inadequate. Nothing else has been recognized since then concerning the future plans or the roadmap for Almussafes. The different union, STMhas criticized that deadlines, investments or manufacturing volumes stay unspecified.