Last year, Blue Oval CEO Jim Farley stated that he believes Ford is overstaffed in a number of areas, after which the automaker proceeded to lay off 3,000 white collar workers. However, the company’s EV transition also promises to prompt its fair share of job reductions as well, largely due to the fact that assembling those types of vehicles requires less labor than their ICE counterparts. As Ford Authority reported last week, The Blue Oval will be culling around 1,000 jobs from its Cologne Assembly plant – which is being converted to the Cologne Electrification Center in Germany for the production of EVs – with even more Ford Europe reductions reportedly in the works. While there is still some uncertainty surrounding these forthcoming job cuts, Reuters is reporting that the full details of the Ford Europe workforce reduction will be revealed next month.
Ford Europe will reportedly decide by mid-February precisely how many jobs it will cut in that region, news that comes on the heels of today’s report that the automaker will meet with Chinese EV maker BYD as it seeks to find a buyer for the Saarlouis Assembly plant in Germany. FoMoCo has already announced that it will cease production at that facility in 2025, and will also discontinue the Focus, which is currently built there.
Meanwhile, union officials are meeting with Ford to negotiate the automaker’s planned job cuts across the entirety of Europe, which could reportedly reach up to 3,200 in total – 2,500 in product development and 700 in administration. A second proposal is also on the table, but no details surrounding that particular option are currently available.
Ford has yet to comment on these forthcoming job cuts, but did restate that it expects that its transition to EVs will require some structural changes. Meanwhile, German union IG Metall is reportedly asking that the automaker retain all 2,500 employees in product development and shift them to other positions or geographical areas, as well as requesting that Ford not lay off anyone until the end of 2032.
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Comments
The no layoffs until 2032 is a guaranteed maximalist non starter designed to get ford to offer fatter buyout offers.
If the Union were to be intransigent, Ford could consider closing up shop in Germany, and producing elsewhere in the EU (over time, Ford has closed plants in the UK, Genk, etc. and moved production to more competitive areas like Spain, Romania, Poland and Turkey.)
In the end, Ford and IG Metall will find a deal where Ford will be able to cut most positions (some immediately and others over time), verticalize propulsion and battery production (over time as Ford moves off MEB to Ford BEV) and use the savings for fat buyouts.
This is how I expect a union to react, unlike the American unions that seem to have simply rolled over.
Ford can sell the plants to Germany. They will need them to build more tanks in the near future.
Rheinmetall will hardly need more floor space for new tank production given how Scholtz will drive potential customers to consider other manufacturers with his ridiculous posturing and use of FRG’s Leo 2 redeployment veto. (Similar for the Swiss arms industry.)
As for IG Metall, same mindless posturing and games as Scholtz.
In the end, both will play ball.
Ps am truly surprised that anything a union would do could find favor with you.
European unions are posturing to help their members. American unions are posturing to help their politicians. While I don’t agree with the former, I respect their position given their role. They are doing their jobs. The latter are fat, corrupt, lieing thieves. They pretend to help their members and line their own pockets.
LoL American Exceptionalism!
Your skewed dystopian take on things, here as well, is not informed by reality or history my friend.
In what world do you ever start up a company or business only to have it held hostage by your employees?? The best unions understand this and work to ensure separation and severance policy is in place should they be needed. Ford is one of the more responsible large companies. The fact that we have to suffer your ill informed comments is the tragedy…. RWFA nails it on this one.