Taubaté tries to diversify economy a year after losing Ford

Of the almost 20 years on the production line in the automobile industry, the only habit that still accompanies engineer Vagner Montemor, 37, is the need for routine. Every day, he wakes up, gets ready and goes to work, even though his new activity allows him to work from home.

“I always had the routine of going to the company, so I kept it,” he says. A little over six months ago, Montemor became a day trader and works with daily stock purchase and sale operations.

A year earlier, he was still punching cards daily at the factory on Avenida Charles Schnneider, in Taubaté (interior of São Paulo), where a Ford industrial plant had been operating since the 1970s. In recent years, that unit manufactured engines and transmissions.

On January 11, 2021, the North American automaker announced the decision to withdraw from Brazil, which would result in the closure of three plants. In addition to Taubaté, the lines in Camaçari (BA) and Horizonte (CE) were also closed.

Montemor and the approximately 830 employees of the Taubaté line were at home on paid leave on the day of the announcement. The certainty that the factory would be closed came even through conversations in WhatsApp groups.

Montemor was part of the first groups that adhered to the layoff plan closed by Ford in negotiation with the Metalworkers’ Union of Taubaté. The minimum amount of compensation set was R$ 130 thousand.

“As soon as the agreement was announced, the support areas could already join. Only the maintenance would continue working. I thought it was better to leave than to watch the factory being dismantled”, he says.

Now, a year after the announcement, Montemor says that his time as a metallurgist is in the past. It’s time to turn the page. “For about three months, I stayed at home digesting the situation, I didn’t look for anything. Over time, I ruled out going back to a factory”, he says.

Like him, many of the former Ford metallurgists told leaf that the years of work in the factory are water under the bridge. “I don’t feel comfortable talking about it anymore. It’s over, gone,” said one.

Mayor José Saud (MDB) had been in office for a week when news of the closure arrived. “We had just taken on a new management and, to our misfortune, we received the news of the closure. There were almost 1,500 direct and indirect jobs, we were very apprehensive”, says Secretary Alexandre Ferri, of Development and Innovation.

For Ferri, the impact of the closing of vacancies was not worse because it came at a time of low economic activity, with the service sector – the basis of the economy in the municipality, alongside industry – still closed.

The figures for the agreements closed by the automaker with the Metalworkers’ Union of Taubaté also helped to contain the shock. It was agreed to pay additional wages and bonuses per year of work at the factory for those who were away from the INSS. The amounts ranged from BRL 150,000 to BRL 300,000.

Joining the plan was optional. Those who did not want to have stability until December 31 and can be fired with compensation.

“We started a work to open vacancies and at least improve the level of employment, even if the salaries were lower”, says the Secretary of Development and Innovation.

Alstom, a supplier of infrastructure for rail transport, expanded the Taubaté factory and opened 750 vacancies in October 2021. Then, in November, Volkswagen announced an investment plan of R$7 billion in Latin America, starting with the production of the Polo Track at the city factory.

“In the midst of the pandemic, we were still able to guarantee the supply of jobs and we started to invest in diversification, with more attention to tourism and agribusiness and in a technology and innovation hub that, alone, opened 421 new jobs”, says Ferri.

According to data from the Caged (Employed and Unemployed Registry) of the Ministry of Labor and Social Security, Taubaté reached November 2021 (the most recent data available) with a positive balance in vacancies with the creation of 4,440 jobs. The worst moment of the year was April, when 672 positions were cut in the municipality.

Ford says, in a note, that everything that was foreseen in the agreement with the Taubaté Union was fulfilled, and the shutdowns, completed in 2021. “We are still in the process of selling the factory and we have nothing relevant to announce at the moment.”