German union IG Metall agrees to job cuts at Ford's plant

Job Cuts: Europe's largest industrial union IG Metall and Ford Motors have agreed to reduce the number of jobs at their Saarlouis plant in Germany by about 3,500 personnel after production of the Ford Focus, which will halt next year, as per an official union statement.

In a blow to Germany's car making economy, the plant's future was thrown into doubt in June 2022 when Ford decided to assemble its next-generation electric vehicle (EV) in Spain, and not in Saarlouis, which has close to 4,500 employees.

The union said around 1,000 jobs at the plant would be retained after 2025, adding there would be no forced redundancies until 2032 and that employees could leave early with an attractive, well-funded severance deal.

"We could not achieve the best solution so we decided to make do with the second-best option: to make job cuts as expensive as possible for Ford," said Joerg Koehlinger, District Manager of IG Metall Mitte.

In October, talks between Ford and a potential investor in the plant fell through.