Germany’s powerful IG Metall union says its collective strength allowed it to secure the recent Fiesta deal with Ford and avoid any potential conflict with a mooted Romania production transfer.
In a wide-ranging contract, the Ford labour body has agreed to axe night shifts, increase hours flexibility and reassign work from suppliers to the US automaker, triggering efficiencies thought to be worth US$400m between 2017 and 2021.
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“It was a good result because the whole people of this factory are members of our union – it was possible to have the hard position in this conflict,” an IG Metall spokesman told just-auto from Düsseldorf.
“It was a conflict because in another result, possibly this Fiesta would be built in Romania, so we are sure only the high level of union members…could help to say we need this production in Cologne.”
The IG Metall spokesman added the new generation Fiesta would initially require two-shift production, with this rising to three, while 500 new engineering staff would also be taken on.
“It is good for our members and it is good for the industrial situation in North Rhein Westphalia,” said the IG Metall spokesman.
“That is a good message. We have also a lot of firms who send their products to this factory – the suppliers.”
Ford had apparently mulled relocating production of the next generation Fiesta to lower-cost Romania, where there is spare capacity due to slower than expected sales of the B-Max model.
