The Bordeaux Court of Appeal condemned Thursday 4 July Ford for failing to maintain 1000 jobs at his Ford plant Aquitaine Industries (FAI) in Blanquefort (Gironde) from 1 January to 24 May 2018, in accordance with its commitments. Ford has not yet responded to the decision of the court of appeal.
Ford’s argument rejected
The court confirmed the judgment of 2 November 2017 of the district court, which had sentenced the car manufacturer to a penalty of 500 euros per day of delay if this figure was not reached over the period.
The judges based their decision on the framework agreement signed in 2013 for five years between the leaders of Ford Europe and the government which had committed to provide 12 million euros to maintain this level of manpower.
Ford had appealed this decision and pleaded at the hearing on May 28 last the absence of “a collective agreement between the unions and Ford”. They had defended the idea that in the framework agreement no firm commitment on the number of employees had been signed and that the figure of 1000 jobs was only an “objective”.
The TGI declares itself incompetent
In February 2018, Ford announced its intention to end its activity in this gearbox factory, which opened in 1972.
Only one candidate for the resumption remained in contention, the Belgian industrialist Punch Powerglide deemed credible by the government, but the automaker had preferred to schedule the end of its activity in Gironde at the end of August 2019 and set up a job protection plan (PSE) that the American considered more favorable for the employees. The PES was validated on March 5 by the administration.
On Tuesday, July 2, the high court seized by the CGT declared itself incompetent to judge the economic merit of the closure of the plant and the rejection of the proposal of Punch Powerglide, a decision against which the majority union has decided to appeal for a favorable decision and “save as many jobs as possible”.
With Reuters (Claude Canellas, edited by Yves Clarisse)