Workers of Ford plant in Russia will continue
ST. PETERSBURG. March 18 (Interfax) - The trade union of Ford Motor Company (FMC, Vsevolozhsk, Leningrad region) and the company's administration failed to agree on a pay rise and the improvement of working conditions, plant's trade union leader Alexei Etmanov told Interfax.
"The talks on modifying the collective agreement between FMC workers and Ford representatives finished today. The parties have failed to reach a mutually acceptable result," he said, adding that this would be reflected in the protocol of differences due to be signed on March 22.
The procedure of an industrial collective dispute will start once the protocol is signed, Etmanov said.
Talks with the employer have continued for one month, with workers holding the "Italian" strike the whole of last week, which affected the car output, Etmanov said.
"The norm is to produce 300 cars per day, but the actual output is 15-20% less," the trade union leader said.
It was reported earlier that the talks were held ahead of the signing of a new collective agreement. To support its proposals on the 25% salary increase, the trade union cited the inflation rates over the past two years, wages paid at other car plants in the region, FMC production growth and the workers' improved skills following the launch of the Ford Mondeo.
Currently, FMC is the only foreign car plant in Russia, which has a collective agreement between trade unions and the administration.
Ford Motor Company opened the plant in the Leningrad region in the summer of 2002. FMS produces the Ford Focus and the Ford Mondeo.