The multinational Ford and the UGT union -majority in the Almussafes factory- have reached an agreement on Tuesday for the conditions of the Employment Regulation File (ERE) in the Valencian plant, which will imply the departure of 1,144 workers from the factory, almost 20% of the staff.
The multinational already agreed yesterday to lower the early retirement age to 53 years with the aim of creating a sufficient stock market to avoid forced dismissals of workers, an aspect that has been ratified at the negotiating table held this afternoon. Thus, of the 55-year pacts on Friday, the agreement is finally closed with voluntary early retirement from the age of 53.
The novelties that have been known now come hand in hand with the improvements. Thus, for those workers who are up to 54 years old, there will be an additional compensation of 40,000 euros gross for departures that occur before June 30, while the amount will be 20,000 uros if they are prior to September 30. The figure of 20,000 euros was already on the table at the meeting that the company and unions held last Friday.
Supplements to the unemployment benefit have also been modified, which go from 70% to 75% for workers who retire at 53 or 54 years of age and until they reach 57 years of age. From the age of 55 the supplement will be 80%.
Likewise, the contribution period will be extended up to 62 years in the case of employees who retire early at 53 years of age and up to 63 years in the case of 54-year-olds; in both cases, one more year compared to what was proposed on Monday.
The agreement for this ERE, presented on March 10, comes in the same month in which the Almussafes factory says goodbye to the manufacture of the S-Max and Galaxy models because the multinational is accelerating its strategy towards the total electrification of its passenger vehicles in 2030 and its entire portfolio in 2035. Thus, it will only keep the production of the Kuga until the manufacture of the new electric ones that have been assigned to the Valencian factory.
Almussafes was the factory chosen by Ford to produce the company’s new electric vehicle platform from 2025, a decision that ensured the workload for years to come but also involved realigning the current workforce.