The unions are asking the owner of Nedcar, VDL, for a better social plan than the one currently available. This is in connection with the announced mass layoffs starting November 1st and expected further layoffs early next year.
Recent attempts to speed up negotiations between the VDL and the unions have failed. The unions held exploratory talks with Nedcar’s management on Tuesday in a bid to resume negotiations. According to NVC director Jeroen Bruinsma, nothing came of it.
“VDL Nedcar’s mass redundancy notice of 1 June hit hard,” said FNV director Peter Reniers. «Especially because there is still no good and just social plan. Nedcar employees are proud of their work, the factory and their customer BMW. And they would like to see it reflected in a decent social plan that does justice to all these sentiments. Unfortunately, the management of VDL Nedcar does not want to honor this yet.’
Mass shooting
Effective November 1, more than 1,800 of Nedcar’s 3,950 total employees will lose their jobs. More mass layoffs are expected early next year. This is because a contract with BMW to build MINIs in Born expires in March 2024. A successor for the Bavarian carmaker has not yet been found.
According to the works council (OR), the difference between VDL’s offer and the unions’ demand is 20 million euros. Unions and works councils have previously stressed that each day of strike costs the company at least 9 million euros. Furthermore, the production backlog is growing significantly and, according to the Works Council, it will no longer be possible to recover it before the summer.