EUROPE

Malmö eleventh hour agreement saves threatened jobs

18 years ago

Fifteen jobs under threat on the back of falling car volumes at Copenhagen Malmö Port (CMP) have been saved in an agreement thrashed out with unions.

Falling car throughput, down 20% year-on-year but still at a record high, forced the port to give notice of the job cuts in September. But an agreement with trade unions on a new work organisation and pension offers for older staff members means that the 15 redundancies have now been withdrawn.

“We have had a positive dialogue with the trade unions, and have managed to enter into a constructive agreement that is satisfactory to both parties,” said Lars Karlsson, managing director of CMP.

“The agreement matches the number of staff to the actual tasks, and we are happy to be able to retain skilled employees. Car imports are highly sensitive to economic trends, and we are obliged to react to the falling car sales. Right now, we are experiencing major fluctuations in the kinds of freight that we handle, but in all, I expect our freight turnover for 2008 to be on a par with last year.”