Out of the question of letting go of the ballast. The showdown continues between PSA and IG Metall, engaged in stormy discussions about the future of German Opel factories – the new property of Maison Peugeot. If the powerful union does not want to give up wage increases foreseen in the sectoral agreement without any compensation for the use and maintenance of the sites, the French manufacturer does not intend to invest in the Rhine without concessions on remuneration and working time.
The dialogue of the deaf is even growing and the names of birds are flying. Jörg Hofmann, the president of IG Metall, has taxed in the press Carlos Tavares of “benchmark junkie” without idea for Opel. At PSA, an internal source irritates the opposite of the “total denial of reality” of the union, camped in a “dogmatic and aberrant position”.
The comparisons are, in any case, severe for the German sites of the brand Eclair, which loses about one billion euros per year since the beginning of the century. Michael Lohscheller, the boss of Opel, said Wednesday that some of its plants were “twice as expensive to run” as the PSA factories. “Opel loses money every time it sells a car assembled in Germany,” says PSA headquarters.
True to its method of competing sites, proven in recent years, PSA refuses to affect new programs in Germany as “the performance conditions are not met.” At the management, it is said that investments are already planned for each site in the Rhine. But as it stands, all these projects are frozen.
Efforts to share
In Spain, the United Kingdom, Poland, Hungary and the Czech Republic, the Opel sites have already received their menus for years to come. “There is no reason for the Germans not to make the same efforts as elsewhere,” warns a French trade unionist.
The challenge for Carlos Tavares and his staff is to meet the commitments made during the acquisition of Opel in 2016 – promises announced Wednesday by Chancellor Angela Merkel. At the time, PSA had banned any plant closures and dismissals.
The manufacturer is able to achieve his goal without betraying his word, proceeding as he has done in recent years in France: first, “Compact” factories by reducing their area and moving to a single assembly line per site – which makes it possible to improve the utilization rate of the factories. Then start voluntary departure plans. The objective is to pass on to Opel the ratio wages on turnover 16 to 11%, a decrease of the payroll by 30%. In this regard, “the increase of 4.3% expected this year in the branch agreement is a stumbling block,” says one at PSA.
Opel has terminated the contracts of some 1,600 dealers in Europe. The brand only wants to keep about two-thirds of them, with new conditions.