1. Works Agreement - not a collective agreement:

The works council and the management of the FORD GmbH concluded on the 3rd of March an agreement about job security and on securing the production sites in Cologne and Saarlouis. That agreement is not an collective agreement and it does not alter the existing collective agreement between IG Metall and the employer federation (existing regional agreement).

2. Main content of the agreement:

Job security for the whole employees in Cologne and Saarlouis until March 2011
Commitment of Ford, to take on 150 young workers annually, who have just finished apprenticeship, on the basis of a regular labour contract.
Investment and follow-up investment into existing and forthcoming products (includes new cars as well as new types of engines). The company is going to set up a production capacity of at least 350 thousand cars (annually) and to introduce a three-shift-system in Saarlouis.
To set up a joint working group in order to develop concepts for enhancing quality and productivity Spare part centre in Merkenich will keep their central role in Europe.

3. Impact on working time and pay

3.1 Concerning working time:
No change of standard working time.
Introduction of a long term working time account (according to the recently signed collective agreement on working time accounts in Northrhine-Westfalia, see my report for EUCOB@ “IGM Agreement on long term working time account”, 27.1.2006). By the way: The introduction of the working time account does not alter the payment of overtime premium!

3.2 Concerning pay:

No change of collectively agreed wages
No reduction of effectively paid wages, but: There is a reduction of the extra pay, paid above the collectively agreed wage level: The existing pay level of FORD is above the level of the agreed wages. There exists a positive wage gap between paid wages and agreed wages - agreed wages are lower. Now, they are going to reduce that “gap” by melting away of 6.5 percentage points from the extra pay by 2011. The collectively agreed wages will rise - according to the collective agreements - but in the way that they are “eating up” parts (concrete: 6.5 %) of the extra pay. To make it easier to understand, I add a graph.

improvement of pension payment for all employees hired before 1st of January 1993. For those employees who are taken on from the 1st of March onwards a new pension scheme will be negotiated.