Auto industry
No social plan for 3,000 Audi employees in Brussels
The end of the Volkswagen Group’s electric car factory in Belgium is getting closer. Trade unions and works councils reject the proposed social plan.
Audi and the employee representatives of the plant in Brussels, which is about to be closed, cannot agree on a social plan. Audi said the company’s sixth offer was also rejected.
The car manufacturer, which is part of the Volkswagen Group, wants to end car production in Brussels at the end of February. The search for an investor or another solution for the 3,000 employees was unsuccessful. In addition to the statutory notice pay, Audi offers them a severance payment, the amount of which depends on their length of service.
An employee with 17 years of service would receive between 125,000 and 190,000 euros, depending on the role and salary, the company said. “Overall, Audi is spending more than twice as much on severance payments as required by law.” Now the company plans to make each employee their own offer. Without a joint social plan, Audi is not allowed to offer additional age regulations for employees over 60 for legal reasons.
Like its parent company Volkswagen, Audi is in crisis and is talking to the general works council in Ingolstadt about how redundancies can be avoided in Germany. Only one model, the large electric SUV Q8 e-tron, is built in Brussels. Audi has been negotiating the closure of the small plant with works councils and unions for six months.
dpa
Source: Stern
