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Babenhausen (dpa / lhe) - The production plant of the automotive supplier Continental in Babenhausen in southern Hesse will remain in operation three years longer than initially planned.
After strong protests against the closure originally planned for the end of 2025, the Dax Group and IG Metall have agreed on the cornerstones of a social collective agreement, as both sides announced on Monday.
According to this, production is only expected to end at the end of 2028.
At the originally planned time, around 430 jobs should still exist in the plant.
Continental is sticking to its dismantling plans for the production plant.
In contrast, research and development for display and operating technologies as well as parts of the administration will be retained at the site.
At the end of 2025, the Babenhausen site will have around 1,400 of the current 3,300 jobs, said Conti.
The company is now supposed to cut jobs in a socially acceptable manner through severance payments and partial retirement.
The social tariff regulations were in the upper range of what is customary in the industry, explained IG Metall representative Daniel Bremm.
The employees are protected against layoffs until the end of 2022 and after that, dismissals for operational reasons require good reasons, according to IG Metall.
The agreements are still subject to a vote among the members at the location.
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The collective bargaining partners also want to look for new business areas together and establish other companies on the factory premises.
There should be training opportunities especially for unskilled industrial workers.
The agreement initially only applies to the Babenhausen site.
Negotiations are still ongoing for the second Hessian plant in Karben, which is threatened with closure and has around 1,100 employees.