The conflict at AGC Automotive ends after 104 days of strike

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Triggered on the 2 December 2004, the labour conflict at AGC Automotive, a glassworks firm, ended on the 15 March 2005 with the signature of an agreement between management and the trade union organisations. It provides for the loss of 249 jobs. Work was able to resume on the 21 March.

The conflict was one of the longest in Belgium's labour history. It began on the 2 December 2004, coming to an end 104 days later, on the 15 March. For 15 weeks, the dispute paralysed the AGC Automotive plant in Fleurus (near Charleroi, in southern Belgium), a subsidiary of Japan's Asahi Glass, specialised in the production of automotive glass.

On the 15 March, management and the trade unions concluded a protocol of agreement approved by 62% of the workforce, 'thus ending a labour conflict that was no doubt too long and atypical of the Walloon Region', in the words of the Walloon Minister for Economic Affairs, Jean-Claude Marcourt, present for the signature of the accord.

Citing 'a lack of profitability' and 'recurring losses for the last five years', the firm's management announced on the 2 December a drastic restructuring, with 284 of 844 jobs being sacrificed. That same day, striking workers held 15 members of management captive in a show of discontent (see BE0502304N). On the 13 December, some 5,000 demonstrators took to the streets of Charleroi in support of the strike. By mid-January, however, the strike movement had begun to weaken and 330 employees decided to go back to work in an extremely tense climate (see BE0501303F).

The agreement signed on the 15 March cuts 249 jobs rather than the original 284. The others (556) will be guaranteed until the end of 2007, a cut-off date that can be extended to the end of 2008 if the company's profitability improves. The job losses will be split between early retirements (from age 50), non-renewal of fixed-term employment contracts, voluntary departures (for which a bonus of EUR 13,000 will be paid) and at most 75 layoffs.

'The loss of 240 jobs is not a positive outcome for anyone. But what matters now is to rebuild an industrial relations climate and to return to productivity with the 550 jobs that are left', explained Minister Marcourt. 'The solution worked out is honourable and responsible. It was approved through a democratic vote by workers', commented Paul Lootens, Federal Secretary of the Belgian General Federation of Labour (Fédération Générale du Travail de Belgique/Algemeen Belgisch Vakverbond, FGTB/ABVV), who added that it would take time to rebuild the common trade union front, dealt a hard blow by the conflict. Robert Wathy, representing the Confederation of Christian Trade Unions (Confédération des Syndicats Chrétiens/Algemeen Christelijk Vakverbond, CSC/ACV), referred to the common front as a 'façade', pointing out that the two unions had disagreed from the start of the conflict.

Seven hundred workers at AGC Automotive have expressed an interest in voluntary departure. The final number of layoffs has not yet been announced.

Work resumed normally on the 21 March, though the climate was tense. 'It will not be easy, but all the workers are going to have to stick together', observed Luc Willame, Manager of the flat glass branch of AGC Automotive Europe. 'This dispute was a catharsis and now no effort can be spared to make the firm competitive again', he argued.

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