Ford Valencia and Spain’s UGT bureaucracy launch another round of jobs cuts

Ford Spain has announced a new Redundancy Scheme (ERE) at its Almussafes plant in Valencia to cut 1,622 jobs, a third of the workforce.

In five years, Ford has collaborated with the social-democratic General Union of Workers (UGT) to carry out four redundancy schemes at Almussafes. It has cut over 6,000 jobs, from 8,300 to approximately 3,200, if the latest cuts are implemented.

These are the consequences of the bidding war initiated by Ford management in 2021 between the Almussafes plant and the Saarlouis plant in Germany to determine which would produce new electric cars and continue operations beyond 2025. The IG Metall and UGT bureaucracies both pressed workers to accept cuts to jobs, wages and working conditions, supposedly to “save jobs.”

From the beginning, the World Socialist Web Site and the Ford Action Committee of rank-and-file workers in Saarlouis explained that the bureaucracies intended for this fratricidal competition to end in plant closures and mass job losses. German and Spanish union officials pitted Saarlouis and Almussafes workers against each other. The WSWS noted in December 2021: “The concessions extorted in this way are then supposedly intended to ‘secure the site.’ But so far, such concessions have only paved the road to plant closures.”

The UGT bureaucracy responded to the WSWS’ call to fight back independently from the union bureaucracy with a video on January 24, 2022. It stated: “During this last season you will have heard a lot of news about the situation and future of our factory, opinions and doubts about our ability to negotiate good agreements, and also criticism, and some out of touch with reality [in reference to the WSWS].”

The greatest promoters of fake news were in fact the UGT and IG Metall, which promised to preserve jobs, but worked with management to close plants, whilst enforcing salary cuts and precarious contracts.

In February, the final closure of the Saarlouis plant was confirmed, leaving only 1,000 workers of the original 7,000 by the end of 2025. Additionally, 1,500 jobs in supporting industries will be lost. Last week, Ford Germany announced a new cut; several thousand jobs are at stake, primarily in the administration, marketing, sales, services and development center located in Cologne-Merkenich.

Having worked closely with IG Metall to cut jobs, Ford, which earned $10.4 billion in 2023, is now proceeding with mass layoffs in the Almussafes Plant in Valencia, despite it “winning” the bidding competition. The plant’s very future is uncertain.