Status: 14.09.2021 3:57 p.m.
Fears about the future are spreading among the workforce at the Ford location in Saarlouis. The production lines stood still for months due to the lack of semiconductors, now the car company is checking the efficiency of the plant.
Automakers around the world have been lacking semiconductors since last year. This has consequences for the German locations. The semiconductor shortage hits Ford particularly hard – the mood at the Saarlouis plant is tense. First the corona pandemic caused long downtimes, then the semiconductor shortage and a month-long production stop followed. Employees, the works council and IG Metall are now calling for future prospects on a day of action.
Anyone looking at the works council’s short-time work plan can only be amazed: the plant had more than four months of downtime behind it in the first half of 2021. The result: The workforce is insecure and the fear is spreading, according to works council chairman Markus Thal.
Location check in times of shortage
The plant has never seen a time like this in over 50 years. Since then, cars have been built in Saarlouis. “Focus” is currently rolling off the assembly line. No short-time work is planned for September. This will only succeed this week because the carmaker is pulling the necessary semiconductors from another plant, according to information from the works council. Production at the Romanian site in Craiowa has stopped – the “Puma” model is manufactured there. The semiconductors for the models are identical, it is said.
Fatal for the Saarlouis plant: right now the car manufacturer is checking whether the location is efficient. The factory in Saarlouis, like Valencia, is hoping for a model approval for the period after 2025. Only those who can prove that the workforce is fit and productivity increases have the chance of a new model.
IG Metall applies pressure
In Saarlouis this means this year: jobs have to be cut again. 600 this year, 1,800 permanent and temporary workers, there were already 2018. At that time, the manufacturer canceled the night shift. The site currently has around 5000 employees. However, the suppliers around the plant, with a further 2,000 employees, are also affected by the weeks of downtime.
The decision in favor of Saarlouis should be made in mid-2022 at the earliest. The union IG Metall wants to set an example now. Negotiations for a new model were already underway in the background, according to Lars Desgranges from IG Metall Völklingen. The workforce was promised a future product when they lost their night shift. He therefore demands a clear signal that the car manufacturer is making a positive decision in favor of the location. With its day of action, the union wants to show what is at stake for the manufacturer.
Industry affected worldwide
The car market is in a state of upheaval. The manufacturer Ford announced an electric strategy last year. The Cologne location has already received a model approval. Last week it became known that the US automaker is discontinuing production in India. Instead, the company wants to rely on global models, citing the “Mustang Mach E” as an example. The group has also stopped production in Brazil – due to the semiconductor shortage and the corona pandemic.
In the first corona lockdown, many car companies stopped their production. During this time, the semiconductor manufacturers received new orders from the electronics industry. Because the demand for consumer electronics has risen sharply during the pandemic and chip production cannot be increased in the short term, many car manufacturers are currently suffering from a supply bottleneck.