(BASF) -- BASF SE management and employee representatives signed a new site agreement for the company's Ludwigshafen site. The agreement, titled ⌠Safeguarding the future through flexibility and operational partnership, applies to the approximately 33,000 BASF SE employees at the site for the period from the beginning of 2011 to end of 2015. It replaces the site agreement from end of 2004 which expires at the end of this year.
A no-redundancy pledge is a key element of the agreement. Another is the company's promise to spend ┬9 to 10 billion on measures to safeguard the site's future through to the end of 2015. Approximately two-thirds of the amount will be used on investment, modernization and maintenance to keep the Ludwigshafen site performing at its best in terms of technology and organization and thus strengthening core operations.
The investment thus remains at the high level of the past years. Research and development expenditure will also be at the level of previous years and will account for more than one-third of the total amount. Ludwigshafen will remain the central platform for global research and development at BASF.