Because the crowd was so large, the employees of the Ford works in Cologne filled a second hall at their works meeting on Wednesday. After management announced that it would cut 2,900 jobs at the site, a good 8,000 employees came together that morning. “It was dead quiet in the hall,” said Benjamin Gruschka, the chairman of the general works council of the Ford works, who communicated details of the restructuring plans to the employees for the first time. Ford management is planning job cuts across all areas: in purchasing, marketing, etc 1,000 jobs will be eliminated in finance, human resources and IT. 1,000 jobs are also expected to be affected in production-related services, from forklift repairs to wastewater treatment. 600 jobs are to be eliminated in product development, the remaining 300 jobs have not yet been defined. There have been numerous reduction programs at the American car manufacturer’s Cologne plant in recent years. Almost 12,000 people still work there. In 2022, for example, there were still 4,000 employees in product development, but after further reductions there would probably only be 1,700 left. In the future, car development would be controlled primarily from the United States. The works council described the reduction plans in Cologne as “dying in installments”. Ford should become profitable in Europe and Germany. Overall, Ford wants to cut 4,000 of 28,000 jobs in Europe by the end of 2027. “Ford is making losses in Europe and cannot simply rely on the parent company continuing to finance the European and German subsidiaries without restrictions,” Ford managing director Marcus Wassenberg told the F.A.Z. last week: “That doesn’t mean that the Ford Group is not behind us, but there is a legitimate desire for us to be profitable in Europe and in Germany. That also means reducing costs.” 2,900 of the jobs will be cut in Germany, which will affect the plant in Cologne. The factory in Saarland with around 3,000 employees will be closed next year. This was already clear beforehand. Ford is now producing two electric cars in Cologne, and the Explorer and Capri models have only been rolling off the production line in the production plant in Cologne called the “Electric Vehicle Center”, although they have only been doing so for a few months. The site was designed for a maximum production capacity of 250,000 cars per year. However, industry experts estimate that only 100,000 of the electric models manufactured in Cologne will be sold next year. Future program required by the next works meeting The management told the F.A.Z. the sluggish sales of electric cars as a reason for the dismantling plan. The production employees are on short-time work until Christmas. However, the works council contradicted Wassenberg’s representation on Wednesday. “Apparently the company is trying to distract from its own failures,” said Grushka. The plans were made in the USA in the spring, i.e. before electric cars were even manufactured in Cologne. “It is unacceptable that the employees have to bleed because of bad decisions made by management,” said Gruschka.More on the subject The works council will not negotiate the “brutal reduction plan” because, after all, there is a valid agreement that protects against dismissals for operational reasons. The works council is demanding a future program by December 10th, for the next works meeting. Grushka wrote a letter to Ford boss Jim Farley requesting an interview. He also spoke on the phone with Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD). Scholz has therefore announced a visit to Cologne.
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