Redundancy package wins over VW staff

German car manufacturer Volkswagen has agreed above-average redundancy terms for workers leaving its Forest plant in the Belgian capital, Brussels.

The company announced last month that it planned to cut around 4,000 of its 5,400 workforce at Forest, provoking an immediate walkout. But on 8 December the unions agreed a redundancy deal with the company, although they were still pressing for guarantees on the long-term future of the plant as Workplace Report went to press.

The redundancy agreement provides permanent employees with a month's pay, calculated on the basis of a worker on the night shift, for each year of service. With a guaranteed minimum payment, this means that they will receive between €29,000 and €144,000. Temporary workers will each get €25,000.

The offer opened on 7 December and has still some time to run, as by law it cannot close until a month after the end of the consultation procedure with the company's works council. More than 1,000 workers had accepted the terms by 12 December.