Plastics and chemicals giant BASF SE has made a major commitment to its headquarters site in Ludwigshafen, Germany, and to employees who work there.
On Oct. 21, company officials signed a five-year agreement with representatives of the Ludwigshafen site's 36,000 employees. In the agreement, BASF agrees “to forgo forced redundancies” — essentially, not to cut jobs — for the duration of the agreement. It made the same agreement in the previous five-year deal.
BASF also announced in an Oct. 21 news release that the firm will spend at least 6 billion euros ($6.8 billion) on investments, upgrading and maintenance measures in Ludwigshafen for that five-year period.
“With the new site agreement, we are creating a framework that offers both flexibility and reliability, and will enable the Ludwigshafen site to remain competitive — now and in the future,” board member Margret Suckale said in the release.
In addition to serving as corporate headquarters, Ludwigshafen is a production site for many BASF plastics and chemicals products. The firm employs 113,000 worldwide and posted sales of more than 74 billion euros ($84 billion) in 2014.