Mercedes-Benz began, this Thursday (8), negotiations with the ABC Metalworkers Union for the dismissal of 3,600 employees at the factory in São Bernardo do Campo (ABC).
The proposals must be presented to the workers in assembly this Thursday. The company announced the cuts on Tuesday (6) afternoon and took employees by surprise. 2,200 direct employees and 1,400 outsourced employees will be terminated.
Inaugurated in 1956, the unit currently has 10,400 employees and is the company’s largest plant outside Germany. According to the automaker, the layoffs are part of a restructuring process to focus efforts on what is currently demanded by the market.
At the factory door, the atmosphere is one of apprehension. Professionals agreed to speak with the report only on condition of anonymity. Most fear being fired.
Contractor Evandro Portela, 38, regrets. “I won’t be directly affected, but we are very upset for our teammates,” he says.
Portela works at a company that supplies food to the restaurant and says he expects future changes so that the region’s economy can grow again. “It is necessary to look at the workers, it is the people who move this country.”
José Pedro de Melo, 60, owner of a stall in front of the factory for 28 years, says he has seen a lot of movement of workers being cut in that period.
“I started here when the company had 25,000 employees. Today, there aren’t even half of them. I don’t miss much, because there’s always movement, but the neighborhood is running out”, he says.
The neighborhood is Pauliceia, crossed by the Anchieta highway, hub where Mercedes is located and which housed the old Ford factory, closed in 2019.
Just cross the footbridge to see the results of the persistent crisis that ended the region’s automotive vocation.
Rua Pacaembu, famous for its street vendors, is a portrait of the good times. “We used to have more than 20 stalls here, now it’s not even five”, says Sandro Ferreira, a 49-year-old merchant who has been at the place for 28 years.
Alex Jerônimo dos Santos, 44, has been selling items there for 29 years and sees it as yet another crisis he will have to deal with. “I’m going to cut spending so I can survive. Cut everything: electricity, internet.”
A study carried out by Dieese in 2019 points out that, with each dismissal in ABC, five workers are impacted within the automotive chain, with a cut in several service providers to automakers. With that, the effect of the dismissals at Mercedes would reach 18 thousand professionals.
The automaker’s idea is to direct activities in the manufacture of trucks and bus chassis and invest in the development of new technologies.
The company will stop producing some components and will outsource areas such as logistics, maintenance, manufacturing and assembly of front axles and medium transmission, tooling and laboratories.
In a note, the automaker says that all discussions that impact employees will be discussed with the union in negotiations. “In keeping with our historic behavior, Mercedes-Benz will make every possible effort to reach a negotiated solution”, says the text.
Cuts took union by surprise
The announcement of mass layoffs at the São Bernardo plant took the metalworkers’ union by surprise on Tuesday afternoon. In a statement on social networks, the current president of the entity, Moisés Selerges, said that three representatives of the automaker arrived at the union’s headquarters in the afternoon to inform about the changes in the unit.
At the same time, notices informing about the cuts were distributed and the employees became aware of the layoffs in an unofficial way. Individual resignation letters have not yet been sent to workers. This Thursday (8), the official communiqué of the union should be made in an assembly scheduled for 14:00h.
CLOSING OF ASSEMBLERS
In recent years, with the economic crisis, closures of automakers have hit Brazil. ABC is no longer a hub for vehicle-producing companies, and the number of metallurgists has dropped dramatically.
In 2019, Ford announced the end of its activities at the São Bernardo do Campo unit. A year later, it was the turn of employees from Taubaté (interior of SP) to receive the news of the end of activities and, in 2021, the automaker announced the end of its production in Brazil.
This year, in May, Caoa Chery decided to limit its activities in Jacareí (80 km from SP) and temporarily close the factory to make changes. About 600 employees were laid off. The unit will be remodeled.
ABC’s Mercedes was inaugurated 65 years ago
The Mercedes unit in São Bernardo do Campo was inaugurated on September 28, 1956 as a starting point for the company’s operations in Brazil. The trucks of the Accelo, Atego, Axor, the New Actros and the newest launch, the Arocs, are manufactured on site.
In March 2018, the unit gained a new final assembly line for trucks with Industry 4.0 concepts, which brings together the most advanced technologies in connectivity, internet of things, cloud storage, Big Data & Analytics for production from light to heavy models. heavy trucks.
At the ABC plant in São Paulo, Mercedes also has a technological development center. With 30 years of activities, it is the largest in Brazil and Daimler’s largest outside Germany for commercial vehicles.
The automaker also has units in Campinas (93 km from SP), Juiz de Fora (MG) and Iracemápolis (167 km from SP), where it maintains a proving ground and a testing center.
Chad-98Weaver, a distinguished author at NewsBulletin247, excels in the craft of article writing. With a keen eye for detail and a penchant for storytelling, Chad delivers informative and engaging content that resonates with readers across various subjects. His contributions are a testament to his dedication and expertise in the field of journalism.
