Ford auto workers in Germany are threatening to strike this week over the automaker’s planned job cuts across its European business.
Workers in two Ford plants in Cologne are planning industrial action according to the plants’ works councils, Reuters reports.
Plant workers voted last week in favor of industrial action, with labor representatives insisting at each stage of talks that management find alternative measures to restructure its business.
Ford had presented a re-capitalization plan for its German Ford of Europe business unit that brings together more investment with a 14% reduction in overall staff numbers. The automaker is blaming the need for job cuts on slowing consumer demand for battery-electric vehicles, which have also lost government-backed buyer incentives in several countries.
However, an agreement in March to inject $4.8 billion into the German unit overrides a deal in place since 2006 that Ford would cover the German subsidiary's losses, sparking protests from German auto worker union IG Metall. Both Ford and IG Metall are keeping tight-lipped as negotiations to avoid an all-out strike progress.
Extra pressure from the uncertainty surrounding vehicle exports in the unsettled trading atmosphere generated by the U.S. auto tariffs sees Ford join other automakers, such as Mercedes-Benz and Stellantis, withdrawing its full-year financial forecast.
