BASF (Ludwigshafen / Germany; www.basf.com) is assessing plans to introduce short-time working for 2,000 to 3,000 of its 32,800-member workforce at the Ludwigshafen main site, starting 1 June 2009. Citing continued weak demand and low capacity utilisation rates, BASF said a unit-by-unit analysis over the coming weeks will be followed by discussions with employee representatives to determine which plants will be affected. A final decision is scheduled for mid-May.

Capacity utilisation has remained “very low” since the beginning of the year, and there are “no signs of a sustained improvement in orders from key customer industries in the foreseeable future,” said managing board member Harald Schwager, who has responsibility for the Ludwigshafen site. Since announcing plans in November 2008 to reduce capacity and idle production facilities – see Plasteurope.com of 20.11.2008 – the group said it has been able to avoid short-time working by transferring workers to other units.

Some 600 employees are currently working in other Ludwigshafen plants, but this practice is approaching its limits, said Schwager. Short-time working for some units would have been introduced “months ago” if employees had not shown a high degree of flexibility, works council head Robert Osswald added. For the present, shorter hours are being considered only for production workers; however, BASF said it is examining possibilities for extending the plan to administrative units if business does not improve in the second half year.

Affected employees will receive 90% of their regular paycheck under the German government’s short-time working compensation plan, along with a contribution from BASF under the chemical industry collective agreement. The group said it will be in a position to re-instate regular working hours “at any time,” should demand recover.