Ford has been in the process of closing or reorganising entire plants in Europe, the US, Brazil, Russia and India for four years in order to increase profits at the expense of the workforce. However, works council representatives and the IG Metall have done everything in their power for years to ensure that resistance to this has come to nothing.
The limited strikes are an integral part of the plan for the closure of the factory that the works council headed by Markus Thal and IG Metall is implementing on behalf of the company.
At the factory meeting on Wednesday, the works council and IG Metall union, supported by Saarland’s Minister President Anke Rehlinger (Social Democrats, SPD), will do everything they can to seal the plant’s closure.
Ford’s decision to halt production at its Saarlouis plant in 2025 is part of the biggest international assault on the social gains and rights of the working class since the 1930s.