Ford has faced its fair share of challenges across Europe over the past few years, and that’s particularly the case in Germany. There, amid weak passenger vehicle and EV sales, the automaker recently announced that it will invest a significant amount of cash in that fledging business unit to help keep it afloat, in fact. Meanwhile, the automaker has also cut production of both the Explorer EV and Capri EV at the Ford Cologne Assembly plant amid weaker than expected demand, but now, it will also be dealing with a strike by workers at that same facility.
The IG Metal union representing workers at the Ford Cologne Assembly plant has announced that 93.5 percent of those employees have voted in favor of a strike, exceeding the 75 percent threshold required to take such action. As such, workers will go on strike starting this Wednesday, and the union is pausing negotiations until it receives what it calls “an offer that is acceptable for conclusion” from Ford itself.
“We are determined to carry out the mandate given to us by our colleagues. Ford must now act – otherwise we will push ahead with our plans,” said Kerstin D. Klein, chief
representative of IG Metall Cologne-Leverkusen. “Furthermore, it should now be clear to Ford that real damage could also be done to the commercial vehicle business in Europe – not to mention the damage to Ford’s image.” “It is overwhelming how much positive encouragement we are receiving. The people in the company are behind us, the public is behind us. This is truly unique,” added David Lüdtke, chief shop steward at IG Metall at Ford.
Meanwhile, Ford continues to face an uphill battle in Europe amid slow sales for its passenger vehicles and EVs in general. The automaker has called on the European Union and UK officials to introduce robust incentives for EVs on multiple occasions as of late, and for now at least, it plans to focus more on its successful Ford Pro commercial business amid weak retail sales.
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What is the strike about???? Sloppy journalism