• Valencia Ford Almussafes, at the crossroads: labor negotiations in full conflict with Germany and without guarantees for the future

A few days before the deadline given by the multinational Ford to its Almussafes plant to present an

adjustment plan

expires , the management of the Valencian factory has decided to suspend the meeting it had this Monday with the unions by surprise. The appointment, about whose cancellation the company has not given any explanation, was presumed to be key to agreeing on lower working conditions that allow Ford Almussafes to

compete with the German factory in Saarlouis for the award of the two new electric models

that are still pending .

launch on the European market.

In fact, in recent months the American multinational has fostered an internal struggle between these two plants which, to date, are the only ones in its division in Europe for which Ford has not committed investments for electric vehicles (it has already done so for its other factories in Germany, Romania and Turkey). The shadow of an uncertain future hangs over Ford Almussafes, to the extent that both management and unions assume that only one of the two factories can remain in this battle, taking into account the

company's announcement to only manufacture plug-in cars from 2030

.

This means that the plant that is not commissioned to produce 100% electric vehicles will have a very difficult time surviving in the medium and long term. In the case of Ford Almussafes, obtaining more workload is vital for its continuity, since

the only model that it currently produces without an expiration date is the Kuga

.

With this approach,

the management and works council have spent weeks of tug-of-war

to reach an agreement that allows the plant to reduce labor costs and improve its competitiveness on the road to electrification. The plan that the Valencian leadership had put on the table, however, was far from being accepted by the unions. Even the UGT, the majority union in the company committee and the sole signatory of the last ERTE, had opposed some cuts that are considered unaffordable. Of course, he had distanced himself from STM, CCOO and CGT, opening himself to negotiating a certain flexibility.

Specifically, the unions had been proposed by the management a salary reduction of 10%, the reduction of vacations by one week (currently, vacation days amount to 33 a year) and the extension of the work shifts in half an hour.

And all this in a context marked by the

global crisis due to supply problems

and the lack of semiconductors, which is constantly causing Almussafes to alter production days.

The clouds on the horizon have even provoked the

public reaction of the Valencian Government

which, through the Ministry of Economy, has offered to mediate between the two parties. Now, the head of the department of the Generalitat, Rafa Climent, has already slipped that the millionaire public aid that Ford Almussafes has been receiving in recent years is not in exchange for anything, thus implying that they can be deleted from the next budgets of the Generalitat if there is no commitment from the multinational for the future viability of Almussafes.

Only for this year, the Ministry of Economy had budgeted an injection in the Valencian factory of

11.2 million euros in public aid

, the majority through direct concession.

The trickle of public money has been a constant in recent years, since the survival of Ford Almussafes is pending throughout the auxiliary industry that employs almost 30,000 people in the Valencian Community.

According to AVIA, the Valencian Automotive Cluster, joint turnover exceeds 12,000 million euros, that is, almost

12% of regional GDP

.

Hence, the entire sector is holding its breath waiting to see if the labor adjustment arrives at Ford and, above all, the multinational's commitment to new vehicle orders.

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