The planned reduction of hundreds of jobs at train builder Alstom has been averted for the time being after a collective bargaining agreement at the weekend - the metal industry union described the compromise on Tuesday as "good news" for employees.
"This result of the negotiations strengthens the railway industry and can thus make a decisive contribution to the success of the traffic turnaround," said Jürgen Kremer, executive board member of IG Metall.
Berlin – The “Tagesspiegel” had previously reported.
The union and the group had already agreed on a collective bargaining compromise on Saturday, after around a year of negotiations, which provides for the preservation of up to 1,300 threatened jobs at Alstom's nationwide locations, according to employers.
"The agreement on a future collective agreement is a real milestone for Alstom in Germany," said Alstom President for the Germany, Austria and Switzerland region, Müslüm Yakisan.
"This successfully sets the course for more competitiveness."
From the point of view of the group, job cuts with the solution found are not completely off the table.
"The decisive points are the utilization and capacities of the locations," said an Alstom spokesman on Tuesday.
"If the site utilization does not develop as expected and the underutilization cannot be compensated for by short-time work or comparable economically sensible measures, negotiations on staff reductions are possible."
According to the company, in addition to the provisional job security, the agreement also provides for the withholding of special payments to employees of up to 34 million euros.
If certain key figures in the areas of productivity, quality and capacity are achieved, the money will be paid back to the employees.
Alstom took over the train division of the Bombardier Group in 2021 and then announced that it would cut 900 to 1,300 jobs nationwide.
Since then, the company has been negotiating with the union.
dpa
