BERLIN, July 11 (Reuters) - Ford has agreed to a

job protection scheme at its Cologne plant covering over 10,000

workers, with voluntary redundancies planned in response to the

sluggish uptake of electric cars, the company and German

employee representatives said on Friday.

Ford has been undergoing a painful restructuring in

Europe, with

cuts in Cologne

and the

upcoming closure

of its Saarlouis plant dealing a fresh blow to Germany's

prestige as a carmaking hub.

Ford said in a statement that the framework, valid through

2032, includes 2,900 job cuts announced by the company in

November last year.

"The job cuts are primarily based on voluntary redundancies.

The severance payments are generous and significantly better

than usual in the automotive industry," works council head

Benjamin Gruschka said in a statement.

The IG Metall union said the future of Cologne production

remained unclear but welcomed the "safety net."

Ford, which invested $2 billion in transforming its

Cologne site into an EV production hub, has called on the German

government to provide more incentives and better charging

infrastructure to help drivers transition to electric.

IG Metall said the agreement for the Cologne site

included the option for workers impacted by the cuts to trade

places with people from other parts of the company willing to

leave.

The deal is still to be approved in a workers' ballot.

(Reporting by Rachel More, editing by Thomas Seythal)