Negotiations over a new site agreement for the headquarters of chemical giant BASF in Ludwigshafen appear to be entering the home stretch as the year draws to a close.
"We have made significant progress in the negotiations and believe that, even under these challenging conditions, we will be able to reach a viable outcome together regarding the site agreement," a company spokesperson said on Thursday. However, a final result has not yet been reached. Sources close to the works council indicated that discussions are scheduled to continue into the coming week.
The talks have been ongoing since the beginning of the year. The current agreement, which prevents compulsory redundancies for the approximately 33,000 employees in Ludwigshafen until the end of 2025, is set to expire. CEO Markus Kamieth has made it clear that any new site agreement must support the company's strategy of continued investment alongside further cost reductions. In Ludwigshafen alone, costs are expected to be cut by over one billion euros by 2026. Kamieth is aiming for a realignment that he describes as "leaner, but stronger" for the site.
The Ludwigshafen site has struggled for years with high costs and overcapacity, and in 2024 recorded an operating loss of around one billion euros. The group has been considering the closure of additional facilities there for some time. At the same time, BASF is pushing ahead with the development of its new integrated site in China. Nevertheless, Kamieth has pledged to invest billions in the maintenance, modernization, and expansion of the Ludwigshafen site in the years ahead.
(Reporting by Patricia Weiß, edited by Ralf Banser. For questions, please contact our editorial team at berlin.newsroom@thomsonreuters.com (for politics and economy) or frankfurt.newsroom@thomsonreuters.com (for companies and markets).
