Airbus Defuses German Strike Threat as Deal Is Reached

(Bloomberg) -- Airbus SE dodged the threat of strikes in Germany, reaching a labor deal that will allow continued production of its best-selling A320 jetliner.

The accord rules out compulsory job cuts at restructured parts plants until the end of 2030, according to the IG Metall union. Airbus agreed to invest in the sites until at least that date and to include them in future plane programs, the union said.

“This is a good basis for ramping up production together and working on the aircraft of the future,” IG Metall leader Holger Junge said in a statement.

Airbus Chief Financial Officer Dominik Asam said in an emailed release that the pact marks an “important step” that will strengthen Germany's role within the group following an earlier agreement in France.

Airbus has been locked in the dispute since April, when it announced plans to more closely integrate French and German subsidiaries that make fuselage and wing structures after failing to find a buyer. IG Metall resisted the measures amid concerns over job security, staging walkouts that threatened a ramp-up in production of the firm's biggest cash cow, the A320 single-aisle family.

Shares of Toulouse, France-based Airbus rose as much as 2.4% and traded 1.6% higher at 113.96 euros as of 12:50 p.m. in Paris.

Airbus said it could go ahead with plans to offload its detail-parts business, which has plants in Augsburg and Varel, together with a site in Romania, having received a “convincing offer” from Muhr und Bender KG.

Talks with the prospective buyer, known as Mubea, will continue through March, though IG Metall said it will have a veto over whether a deal goes ahead. If no sale is concluded Airbus will have until 2025 to find a buyer, again with the union's consent.

Airbus said earlier this month that it had formed a new subsidiary, Airbus Atlantic, as part of the parallel revamp of its French aerostructures business.

The company still faces the threat of strike action in the U.K., with workers at a wing-assembly plant considering walkouts over pay.

Airbus Staff at U.K. Wing Plant Consider Striking Over Pay (2)