UNION WORK IN DIFFICULT TIMES

“We gain trust through openness and transparency”

Miguel Ochoa Navarrete is a young engineer who tries to make a difference as a management representative at Punch Powertrain. The company produces powertrains for cars and is in dire straits. A restructuring threatens more than 245 jobs. Miguel certainly has his work cut out for him as a starting staff representative.

At the end of last year, Miguel moved on from team leader to specialist in the Technology & Innovation department within Research and Development (R&D). This department is spared this time from the restructuring. however, he is well aware of what a reorganization means. “I lost a job myself once in a restructuring. So I am keenly aware of what the employees in question are going through right now. They are upset and disappointed. We are currently doing everything we can to reduce the number of redundancies in consultation with the employer. We also try to ensure a decent severance package, on top of the legally required severance pay.”

And although his job is not under threat at the moment, he is well aware that he is not safe from harm either. “The research department was involved in a previous restructuring at Punch. And if the tide fails to turn, it will once again find itself in the crosshairs the next wave. 2019 was not a good year for Punch Powertrain. We should have made up for it in 2020. But then came corona. So action must be taken. There are never any guarantees. Not at Punch, and not at any other company either.” He does, however, insist that the research department is important – for the company and for job retention. “Research and development are the engine of a company. It is through research work that we can often still maintain production here.”

 

“I lost a job myself once in a restructuring. So I am keenly aware of what the employees in question are going through right now. They are upset and disappointed.”

 

One-on-one

Miguel has only been active as a staff representative for a few months. When he was asked to join, he was actually already planning to get in touch. He is eager. “I saw many things that I wanted to do differently. There was too little consultation. As a manager I had experienced the importance of connecting with my employees. There was not enough of that at the company level.” And he notices that his colleagues are already finding their way to him. People approach me, they ask questions about how we want to go about things. We gain trust by being open and transparent. We try to keep everyone informed as soon as possible by e-mail. But we are also always available for one-on-one conversations. Because everyone naturally wants to know what an arrangement specifically has in store means for him or her. We notice that this approach is working. We recently asked our colleagues about the preliminary agreement we concluded on the restructuring. They largely indicated that they were satisfied with both the agreement and our communication.”

Work-life

As a young father, he attaches great importance to work-life balance. At the time we spoke with him, his son was just recovering from the RS virus. He had just spent a week in the hospital. Miguel has once again experienced how important it is to be able to make time for these personal moments. And he notices the same in his colleagues. “A lot of young people work here. With my 6 years of seniority I am already an ‘veteran’ within the company,” he laughs. “Young employees are highly motivated. They sometimes change jobs regularly to build their career. But they also want a liveable balance. I myself am satisfied at Punch. I don not feel the need to change jobs to improve. I am doing what I like to do. I enjoy those eureka moments during every project, when after a long search I finally notice what was still not working or how something can work even better. These are always blissful moments.”

 

“But we are always available for one-on-one conversations. Because everyone naturally wants to know what an arrangement specifically has in store means for him or her.”

 

Mexico in Belgium

Miguel ended up at Punch Powertrain from Mexico after a long international trajectory. “As a Mexican schoolboy, I first came into contact with Belgium during a school project around the United Nations, in which I played Belgium,” he recalls. And years later he actually found himself in our country after studying in France and the Netherlands. He found the love of his life here and now lives with his wife and two children in the Flemish Hageland region. “I feel completely settled in now,” he says. But Mexico is never far away. “I have a lot of Mexican friends here. And at Punch I have about seven Mexican colleagues. One of them happens to be an old classmate of mine from Mexico. And for the past two years we have even had a Mexican CEO at Punch Powertrain. I have talked to him a few times. In Spanish of course. How cool is that?”