Restructuring events
European Restructuring Monitor (ERM)
The restructuring events database contains factsheets with data on large-scale restructuring events reported in the principal national media and company websites in each EU Member State. This database was created in 2002.
Ford Spain, a car manufacturer, has proposed an Employment Reduction File (ERE) to the company committee for 1,622 employees in the Almussafes assembly factory (Valencia), out of 4,600 current workers. Specifically, the company plans 626 jobs to be permanent voluntary redundancies and 996 to be outright dismissals with a preference for rehiring in 2027.
According to company sources, the ERE file is explained by the fact that Ford is rethinking the manufacture of electric cars, initially to be produced in this Spanish factory for the whole of Europe. Notwithstanding this, the delay in the automobile electrification process in Europe has led the company to freeze this electrification plan and to replace it with the production of another new hybrid vehicle in Almussafes in 2027, for which around 300,000 units per year are expected to be produced.
Ford is looking for a "transitional solution" for the 996 employees to be rehired in 2027 when the production of the new vehicle starts. In this regard, Ford is committed to working constructively with the Workers' Legal Representation and national and regional governments to find all possible opportunities to reduce the impact on Ford employees, their families and the local community.
Ford Spain already applied two ERE files in 2023 Ford Spain-2023-ES and 2020 Ford Spain-2020-ES, affecting 1124 and 350 employees, respectively.
Update (4th July 2024): A final agreement has been reached between the company and employees' representatives in the Ford plant in Almussafes (Valencia). The ERE will finally affect 626 people (as opposed to 1,622 initially planned), and a process is opened to define a special temporary employment regulation (ERTE) to be prepared by the Public Administration for the remaining 1,000 people affected by the restructuring process. The agreement contemplates various measures, such as early retirement for those over 53 years of age (who will receive a percentage of their salary ranging from 75% to 85%, depending on the worker's age), as well as incentivised departures of up to 40,000 euros for those born after 1971, with a compensation equivalent to 45 days per year of service with a ceiling of 42 monthly payments
Eurofound (2024), Ford España, Internal restructuring in Spain, factsheet number 201274, European Restructuring Monitor. Dublin, https://dev.eurofound.europa.eu/restructuring-events/detail/201274.
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