The planned job cuts at the Dillinger aluminum foundry Nemak are much less dramatic than announced in February.
"We were able to reduce the number of layoffs to 15," said plant manager Marcus Speicher. Originally, 150 jobs were to be lost, most of them through layoffs. The 15 employees who have to go would not immediately become unemployed, said IG Metall Völklingen's first representative, Lars Desgranges.
Workers could first switch to a transfer company that would support you in reorienting yourself on the job market.
The fact that the number of redundancies could be reduced so much is the result of negotiations between the management, the works council and the union about a social plan and a collective agreement. The employees were informed at a company meeting on Friday. In total there are now around 60 jobs to be cut. In addition to the 15 employees who will be made redundant, according to Speicher, there are around 45 who have accepted a volunteer program that Nemak offered. In addition, according to Speicher, some employees left the company independently of a program, so that Nemak in Dillingen now has around 1,000 employees.
Solidarity is not just a slogan at Nemak.
NEMAK IN FIGURES
The Dillinger Nemak plant belongs to the Nemak group, which is based in Monterrey (Mexico). The group reported sales of $ 4.7 billion in 2018 and employed more than 22,000 people in 2018.
In addition, the personnel costs in production decrease to a large extent due to "a reduction in working hours by three hours a week," said the plant manager. Around 500 employees took part. This is “a solidarity package. Everyone does without a bit, ”said Lars Desgranges from IG Metall. According to the original plans, "every seventh job" would have been lost. The social plan and the reduction in working hours should apply until the end of 2020. The fact that employees were given eight additional days off per year in addition to normal vacation was also a factor in preserving jobs - according to a regulation that was borrowed from the collective bargaining agreement. As a result, the need for workers is somewhat higher, said Desgranges.
The reason for staff cuts and reduced working hours is the diesel crisis. Nemak mainly produces parts for diesel engines. The company initially responded to the declining demand with short-time work. A job reduction was then inevitable, said Speicher. Hopefully the bottom of the diesel has now been reached. He expects "that we will have a volume of 1.6 to 1.8 million castings per year in the next few years". Before the diesel crisis, Nemak produced around 2.4 million parts a year. The plant manager is also optimistic because Nemak supplies products for "the best engines on the market" - for cars from Daimler, BMW and Audi.
The company wants to do business in electromobility. "We are applying to manufacture housings for electric motors," said Speicher. The strategic goal is to reduce dependence on the demand for cars with internal combustion engines.
Source: Von Volker Meyer zu Tittingdorf, Saarbrücker Zeitung
