25 April 2006

AMSTERDAM — Trade unions and the management of NedCar reached an agreement on Tuesday on how to safeguard the factory's future.

The deal, reached after five hours of talks, puts an end to the threat of further strikes at the only major car assembly plant in the Netherlands. The unions will put the accord to their members on Wednesday.

Both sides agreed there will be no layoffs before 1 April 2007 and that a committee of 'wise men' will look for new car contracts.

Trade union 'De Unie' broke ranks earlier on Tuesday when it announced it was resigning itself to mass layoffs at NedCar. De Unie officials said it was important to agree the redundancies prior to 1 October when the new unemployment Insurance Act (WW) comes into effect.

Workers with, for example, a 40-year work record are entitled now to unemployment benefit for five years. Under the new system the time period will be cut to three years and two months. De Unie said it still wanted to minimise the number of layoffs through negotiations with the management.

Managers at NedCar sought major redundancies among the staff in recent weeks due to the decision by DaimlerChrysler to stop production on the Smart ForFour. Mitsubishi, which owns NedCar, has refused to guarantee that the successor to its Colt will be built at the plant.

Last week De Unie refused to take part in a one-day strike, organised by the FNV and CNV unions, at NedCar for fear of antagonising Mitsubishi.

[Copyright Expatica News + ANP 2006]

Subject: Dutch news