In a statement published on Monday, the unions announced that after 15 days of “intense” negotiations, a “social safety net” had been established for the 79 employees. “Social measures such as retirement or pretirement, internal and external training will be put in place, and internal transfers within the Mahle group could be retained,” the unions added. 

Employees without further engagement in the group will be supported by an extralegal financial package, which takes into account their level of seniority and their family situation, including number of children. 

As Delano earlier reported, Mahle Behr justified its Foetz closure due to the fact that they no longer had “the necessary skills to deal with the constant developments in the automotive sector”, and the unions had learned of the plans on 6 November by a staff delegation member. The Foetz site was one of 16 main R&D sites of the group, which set up in the grand duchy in 2015, according to our colleagues at Paperjam, which add that a social plan in 2017 had impacted around 60 individuals.