[Brookside]

Sealed With A Deal

VW/Audi Confirms 2009 A1 With Brussels Labor Contract



Volkswagen Brussels Plant strike set to end This Week. (12-28-007)
BRUSSELS (Reuters) - Volkswagen Brussels management and unions settled some differences after marathon talks into Saturday morning, paving the way for a return to work at the plant on Monday, a union official said.

Belgian Labour Minister Peter Vanvelthoven had sent in a mediator in a bid to end a dispute over restructuring at Volkswagen's plant in Belgium, where workers stopped production on Thursday.

Union negotiators secured written guarantees that the factory would produce the Audi A1 from 2009. They also received assurances that redundancy payments would apply over the course of the next few years, Belgian media reported.

Workers at the plant went on strike for seven weeks from November over Volkswagen's plans to stop making its top-selling Golf model at the plant and slash the workforce to 1,500 from more than 5,000.

They only returned to work at the start of this month after Europe's largest car maker offered to produce over 100,000 Audi A1 cars per year at the factory from 2009, securing 3,000 jobs.

Audi officials visited the site on Thursday to discuss conditions for production of Audis in Brussels.