“All parties want things to move forward,” said Eddie Martens of the Christian ACV union. “Hopefully after these discussions, the most thorny problems will be behind us.”

Unions are demanding early pensions for all workers aged 52 and over – about 1,800 of the total workforce of 4,500. According to the liberal union ACLVB, management is open to the idea, but it would have to be approved by the federal government, which would have to foot the lion’s share of the bill.

Federal labour minister Monica De Coninck pointed out later that it was “not the plan” to hand out early pensions to all workers aged 50 or 52, regardless of their situations. “If people have worked for 35 years … then I have no problem with this proposal being considered,” she said. “But it was never the plan to include people who may only have worked [at Ford] for two years and now want to stop work altogether.”

De Coninck said that it was “regrettable” that some workers are remaining in temporary unemployment at Ford instead of looking for new jobs, while they wait to see what the redundancy payments are going to be. She said that she intended to include Flemish labour minister Philippe Muyters in the discussions.

Union leaders held hostage

Last week, the three main representatives of Ford unions were prevented from leaving the city hall in Genk, where they had turned up for talks, by a group of militants from Ford and the four Genk suppliers of the Ford plant. The group has been protesting since the announcement of the closure, claiming that their interests were not being adequately argued. After the intervention of Genk mayor Wim Dries, the three union men were able to leave the building unhindered.

Union activists, meanwhile, continue to mount a picket at Ford Genk to stop the arrival of parts – a blockade which has brought production at the factory to a standstill. On Monday, 21 January, a bailiff turned up to read the order of a judge to lift the picket on pain of a fine of €1,000 a day. The bailiff imposed the fine for the first day.