Major dispute continues at Ford Almussafes

Download article in original language : ES9810287NES.DOC

In October 1998, talks over a new works agreement for the Ford plant in Valencia, Spain, have been deadlocked for 10 months. As a starting point for the negotiations, management is seeking an unconditional acceptance of an obligatory increase in working time. The workers have refused to accept this condition.

In 1998, for the first time in the factory's 22-year history, a new works agreement had not been signed at Ford's Almussafes plant in Valencia by October. The demands of both the trade unions and management have been on the table for 10 months without being negotiated, because they seem irreconcilable. Owing to a possible increase in production because of demand for a new model (the_Focus_), management has required as a starting point for the negotiations the unconditional acceptance of an obligatory increase in working hours for all workers (through working in collective breaks and on 10 Saturdays per year). The workers' committee believes that, since unemployment is the most important political and social problem, the increase in production should be covered by job creation and employment stabilisation. This would lead to a younger age profile for the workforce. The key demands are shorter working hours (a 35-hour week), the conversion of temporary contracts into permanent contracts and the early retirement of workers with compulsory replacement, besides pay increases and promotion for certain groups of workers.

Flexible production, and more specifically the flexible distribution of working hours, is nothing new. In large companies, and in the automobile sector in particular, there have already been several experiments, such as at Mercedes-Benz (ES9711232N). However, they have always been based on an agreement reached through collective bargaining in which the balance of forces determines the eventual outcome. In the case of Ford Almussafes the situation is different, since management is not willing to negotiate. It has therefore made a double threat: to distribute collective breaks unilaterally, which will allow it to cover 50% of the estimated increase in production, and to transfer the remaining 50% to another plant. Management has also launched a campaign in the media against the attitude of the workers, quoting figures of direct and indirect job losses. Finally, it has failed to renew 132 temporary contracts that expired in September 1998. In this way - seen by the unions as authoritarian - management apparently wants to impose flexibility and then only later deal with the other points on the agenda.

The workers called intermittent work stoppages during the whole of September and daily stoppages from 5 October, which were reportedly followed by the great majority of the workforce. Members of the Ford European Works Council have expressed their support for the Spanish workers and state that they will not facilitate the transfer of production to other plants, which claim that their shifts are already saturated.

The Valencian regional government and other regional and national political forces have expressed their concern and have asked both parties to return to the negotiating table. The Valencian general director of employment has called several mediation meetings during the course of the dispute.

Finally, a door has been opened that might influence the positions of the parties involved. During the second week of October, negotiations were resumed on non-problematic aspects: the wage increase and an apprentice training school. The parties also agreed to continue negotiating bilaterally during the third week of October. Nevertheless the negotiating process again became more tense after the management issued a new ultimatum.