Work is halted for two days
The unions have announced a two-day strike for Monday and Tuesday at the Limburg car factory Nedcar in Born. They did so after an ultimatum to owner VDL had expired.
“The anger of the employees is particularly great, the fighting spirit is fully present,” said director Ron Peters of the FNV union on Saturday. “People here are angry, very angry,” said CNV negotiator Jeroen Bruinsma. “Even an ultimatum did not get the management at the table. So let’s do it this way.” The unions and VDL are at each other’s throats over a new social plan for the expected mass redundancies. The contract with BMW for the production of Minis expires early next year, and VDL has not found a new customer who can take over. This means that the lion’s share of the 3,800 employees will no longer be able to work.
Although there is a social plan from a few years ago, it is insufficient according to the unions. They want to see double that paid out, 240 million euros. According to the unions, VDL does not want to go further than 120 million with some extras. This led to the failure of the negotiations on the social plan last Tuesday. “Unfortunately, the employer does not see the need to make new agreements,” says Bruinsma. “They don’t even want to talk and are constantly showing us the door, even after a mediation process. This strike was inevitable.”
On Wednesday, a wildcat strike broke out at the factory, which lasted two days. Production was resumed on Friday, partly under pressure from the unions, which did not support the wildcat strike.
“We tried informally to talk to VDL again, but that failed,” said Peters on Saturday. “The parent company of VLD Nedcar does not respond to any call from the unions. It is an insult to its own employees.” The spokesman for VDL shoots these statements in the wrong way on Saturday. “There was indeed informal consultation between VDL and the unions today, and that happened on our initiative.”
VDL regrets calling the strike. “We regret that this has caused damage to VDL Nedcar and to the future of our company,” said VDL in a statement. “We call on everyone to keep calm and to observe safety.”
Many hundreds of VDL Nedcar employees register as strikers with the trade unions in Holtum on Monday morning. That happens on the Markt in the Limburg village. Director Ron Peters of FNV Metaal said on Monday morning that he expects between 1,500 and 2,000 Nedcar employees to register.
– Thanks for information from Autoweek.nl