The works council of the ford-Werke Saarlouis is hoping for a quick agreement on a planned transfer company for the employees and has initially postponed a works meeting that had already been planned internally. It is important to achieve the best possible result for the workforce. “Thoroughness takes precedence over speed,” said chairman Markus Thal in an internal letter to the workforce. That’s why we want to first discuss the open points with the lawyers and then with the employers and the transfer provider. However, it is very much hoped that a works agreement can be concluded in a timely manner and that information about this can then be provided at a works meeting in November.
More than two years ago, Ford announced that it would end Focus production in Saarlouis in 2025. After the search for an investor failed, the works council and the union IG Metall and the US car manufacturer Ford agreed on regulations regarding the future of the 3,750 employees in February of this year. The agreements include, among other things, the continued employment of 1,000 employees with protection against dismissal until the end of 2032, severance payments and bonuses, the formation of a transfer company and qualification programs. In addition, the end of production of the Ford Focus, originally planned for May 2025, will be postponed to the end of November 2025.
Comprehensive package of measures
According to Thal when asked by the German Press Agency, there are currently 3,100 employees in Saarlouis. So far, 700 colleagues have left the company through severance pay between April and June. The next 380 will leave the company by the end of January 2025.
It is still unclear how many employees will move to a transfer company. “There could be 1,700. We don’t yet know how many will leave; the colleagues have to decide for themselves,” said Thal. First, a works agreement must be concluded, then this will be clarified by the end of May 2025 at the latest.
Three new projects for “Ford 1000”
He was satisfied with the three new projects under the motto “Ford 1000,” in which some of the remaining 1,000 Ford employees will be employed. According to the Saarlouis plant management, this involves a service center for drive batteries, a distribution center for high-quality spare parts and a service parts center where spare parts production will be centralized in Saarlouis in the future. However, the works council is particularly pleased that it has also succeeded in restarting vocational training with twelve trainees in three professions and the associated training staff from September 2025. “It’s nice to see how all these projects are now gradually being implemented,” said Thal.
The works council sees this as “very positive signals” in which they are very happy to participate and shape things because of the perspective and everything that the workforce has behind them. In view of the current negative economic reports of the last few days from SVolt to Wolfspeed to ZF, it should be emphasized that 1,000 industrial jobs will be retained at Ford in Saarlouis and alternative employment opportunities will be established at the plant – and that with an exclusion of operational-related dismissals until the end of 2032. “What is important here “To understand it, a new factory with 1,000 Ford jobs will be built on parts of the old Ford site,” emphasized the works council.