The Spanish automobile industry is becoming electrified at a much faster rate than sales are doing in our country. Proof of this is that more than 110,000 electric cars left the Spanish plants between January and November of this year, which means an increase of 60% compared to the same period of the previous year. Although this is good news, since the production of electric cars will ensure the future of the plants, the implementation of the electric car will mean a progressive template readjustment in the enginean adjustment that will begin to be seen in 2023 in some national factories.
In the case of seats, belonging to the Volkswagen group, the company agreed this year with the unions a new collective agreement for its plants in Martorell (car assembly), Barcelona (sheet metal) and El Prat de Llobregat (Components). In it, both the unions and the company agreed on a voluntary departure plan for reduce the workforce by 1,330 people until 2026. The reason is to prepare the company for the arrival of the Small BEV electric production platformwhich the car company will implement in Martorell to produce two electric compacts from 2026. At the end of 2021 (no data available for 2022), Seat had a total of 14,590 workers in Spain between production and offices.
The other plant of the German group in Spain, that of Volkswagen in Landaben (Navarra), his collective agreement is still in force, which ends at the end of 2023. Sources from the sector explained to Five days that probably after holy week VW begin negotiating the new agreementwhich must address the issue of electrification of the factory, which may lead to a readjustment of employment similar to that agreed at Seat.
The complicated situation at Ford Almussafes
The most complicated case is that of Ford Almussafes (Valencia), where almost 6,000 people work. Although the American manufacturer announced that it will study assembling electric cars there from the second half of the decade, the plant will suffer from the output of several models in the coming months that will reduce its workload. The company has already confirmed that Almussafes will stop making the S-Max and the Galaxy from April 2023to which is probably added the TransitConnect (not official yet). This would leave the factory with a single model, the Kugaa successful car for the brand, which represents the greatest workload in the Valencian factory.
To this must be added the adjustment due to the future arrival of electric models which, according to Martin Sander explained in a meeting with journalists in which he was Five daysthese types of vehicles need between 30% and 50% fewer working hours. “This surplus can be produced above all in assembly, where today some 1,800 people are employed,” UGT, the majority union at that plant, qualified this newspaper. The company will discuss this matter with the unions in 2023.
Another plant that will have to negotiate a new collective agreement next year is the Stellantis Figueruelassince the current one ends on December 31, 2022. The factory already assembles the electric corsawhich will be added this year a second electric model Announced in October, it will likely be the Peugeot e-208.
In UGT (also the majority in this factory) they pointed out that, although they are aware of the lower workload that the electric vehicle entails, they trust that no workforce reduction will have to be agreed. “It is true that the electric car involves 30% less work hours, but it can be compensated with other elements such as the battery workshop that we have here or the stamping of parts,” said RubĂ©n Alonso, president of the committee at the plant.
For its part, in the Renault group, with assembly plants, engines and gearboxes in Valladolid, Palencia and Seville, no employment adjustment is expected next year, according to the CC OO union. These plants are the center of the French group’s hybrid car production strategy and all have a valid agreement.
Calm situation in Mercedes Vitoria
Electric future. Unlike other plants, at Mercedes Vitoria there is no fear of any job adjustment this year and the arrival of the 1,200 million euros that the German group will invest in the factory is calmly awaited so that it can make an electric van from 2025.
ERTE in Spanish factories. Mercedes and Renault do not plan to apply ERTE in their plants. Seat and Ford have already announced that they will extend them until mid-2023. Stellantis will also negotiate ERTE for its plants, as will VW in Navarra.
#Ford #Stellantis #Seat #start #job #adjustment #electric #car