As of: February 22, 2024, 5:23 p.m
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Signs on the outside area of the Ford plant in Saarlouis.
© Oliver Dietze/dpa/archive image
The vote could hardly be clearer.
But the result is no surprise.
Saarlouis - 93.28 percent of the employees at Ford-Werke Saarlouis organized in IG Metall voted for the acceptance of the social collective agreement.
IG Metall Völklingen announced this on Thursday.
Around 3,600 members of IG Metall were called to vote - around 98 percent of the workforce.
The agreements include, among other things, the continued employment of 1,000 Ford employees until the end of 2032, high severance payments and bonuses, the formation of a transfer company and qualification programs.
In addition, the end of production of the Ford Focus, originally planned for May 2025, is to be postponed by half a year.
“The gigantic approval of 93.28 percent of our IG Metall members for the social collective agreement shows that our fight over the last months and years has been worth it,” said the first representative of IG Metall Völklingen, Lars Desgranges.
The social collective agreement is “certainly unique in Saarland and in the whole of Germany in its entirety of regulations”.
The negotiation result was reached at the beginning of February after months of negotiations between the works council, IG Metall and the management of the US car manufacturer.
With this social collective agreement, the second best result that could have been achieved in this situation under these legal framework conditions was achieved, Desgranges further announced.
Vehicle production for the Saarlouis location would have been the better alternative for the employees, for the entire region and also for Saarland.
But positive voices in recent months about an investor joining the site have unfortunately fallen silent, he said.
dpa