Belgian unions claim 1,500 people still remain unemployed 18 months after Ford closed its plant in Genk with the loss of 5,500 jobs.
Ford’s decision to axe the site caused huge uproar in the Belgian province of Limburg, which had already witnessed significant unemployment following closure of the region’s mines in the 1980s, but although many of the automakers’ former staff have secured new jobs, there remains a major rump of those who have not.
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“Of the 5,500 working at Ford, some 1,500 are still unemployed,” ABVV union regional president, Rhonny Champagne told just-auto from Limburg. “[For those who] worked with the suppliers, there will be an even bigger number unemployed because they were lower skilled and lower educated.
“Also the younger guys at the suppliers – they have really big problems to find another job. They [Flemish government] will tell you they did everything they can and even more than that.
“I still believe they made the wrong choice. For example, the pushed to be the owner of the plant…and the Flemish government is the owner of plant for EUR1 (US$1.1). They own an empty plant.”
Despite the somewhat gloomy prognosis, the ABVV regional leader nonetheless praised one local employer for providing new automotive employment as it looked to ramp up production for China in particular.
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By GlobalData“There is [however] some good news to gather,” added Champagne. “That is a plant called Punch Powertrain. They are growing so fast they can’t find enough people – that is a positive thing.
“I think they are now 500 employees and still growing – their objective is to grow to 1,000 people somewhere around 2020. They have a major plant in China and that is where 95% of their export is going.
“That is something I want to stress as a union – they are having very good human resource employment – they are treating their employees very well. In fact, an example for other employers, they should treat their employees the same way as Punch Powertrain.
“They pay competitive wages, but it is not so much that I want to stress. It is relations between management and employees [are] very close.”
Ford, the Flemish government and Punch Powertrain were not immediately available for comment.
