BarcelonaSeat’s Management opened the door to the unions on Wednesday to a possible cut in the company’s employment due to the labour surplus that is estimated to involve the manufacture of the electric vehicle, which requires 30% less working hours than that of combustion. Seat plans to invest 5,000 million euros until 2025 in electrification and opts to manufacture the compact electric model for all brands of the Volk Group.
The possible surplus of personnel has been put on the table during the first official meeting of the negotiation of the new agreement col·, which will go from 2022 to 2026, as reported by the president of the company Committee, Vbseo Carnero, and the two major unions in the company, UGT and CCOO. The car company said it has transferred to the unions the need to take advantage of the next five years, until the arrival of the electric car, to reorganize itself and “ensure a progressive adaptation” to the new situation.
Seat has stated that “the transformation to produce electric cars entails a 30% reduction in manufacturing hours”, but that this “should not result in a 30% reduction in workforce”. Along these lines, the management says that it is working to increase production volumes in the coming years “and be able to partially compensate for this decrease”.
The interpretation made by the unions of the meeting is different and, in a joint statement, UGT and CCOO have assured that the company has transferred to them that the current situation is a surplus of staff until 2026, although it has not quantified it. The unions have expressed concern regarding the fact that the company has put this surplus on the table while exposing “the need to be competitive” to address the process of transformation towards the electric car. In addition, they say that the surplus of personnel might be higher if the manufacture of electric motors is not awarded to Seat Componentes (the Prat plant).
“We do not understand that there is talk of a possible surplus of staff during the validity of the 20th Convention and that no figures are given, nor what are the industrial alternatives or vehicle models, which should allow us to guarantee the maintenance of employment,” the unions said in the statement. In statements to Efe, Matthias Carnero has said that they “have come to say that there are more than 2,400 people” until 2025, and has accused the company of “wanting to make up” the adjustment with the argument that might compensate for the excess labor with an increase in the volume of vehicles manufactured. “¿But where will we get them if we are not awarded new models? With three small electric cars we do not have enough to maintain the staff we have,” he warned, following asking the central government to “take note” when they are regarding to know the details of the aid perte of the electric.
Frozen pay tables
According to the unions, the management has also proposed a freeze in the 2021 wage tables, which means that the rise in the CPI would not apply, and an increase in individual working days per year. Both unions have also rejected this proposal arguing that the workforce has made many sacrifices during the pandemic. Seat’s col· convention, which affects around 15,000 workers, is the most important in the Spanish automotive industry.