There is talk of “disinformation” and open wage tariff: The Opel works council sharply rejects the demands of the management and the parent company PSA for the restructuring of the troubled automaker.
Opel employees
Thursday, 19.04.2018
18:49 clock
In the dispute over the Opel-Sanierung becomes the tone sharper. Works Council leader Wolfgang Schäfer-Klug accused the management of “disinformation”. He rejected the proposals for the fulfillment of collective agreements following a works meeting at the Rüsselsheim headquarters. The Union IG metal and the works council accuse the own management and the parent company PSA open tariff break.
The workforce reduction at Opel could be significantly higher than expected. If only one vehicle were to be built in Eisenach in future, this would amount to roughly halving the workforce of currently 1,800 employees at the site, said Schäfer-Klug.
Under the direction of the new owner PSA Opel wants in the Thuringian factory only one more SUVs to build. So far, there have been the two small carModels Adam and Corsa mounted. “The halving of the workforce in Eisenach would be the entry into the complete exit,” said the regional representative of IG Metall, Uwe Laubach. Works Council and IG Metall are demanding two vehicles to use the plant.
Job losses in Kaiserslautern feared
In the engine plant Kaiserslautern the employees were to produce a scenario according to no more engine parts, but only make the final assembly. “If that were the case, that would mean a reduction in the number of employees,” said local Works Council leader Lothar Sorger after a staff meeting. Last year, around 2,000 people worked in Kaiserslautern.
In future, the engineers in Rüsselsheim will also be responsible for the development management of the light commercial vehicles of the PSA Group.
The proposal of management would also include a waiver of employees. “For all employees should have given 4.3 percent permanently, holiday and Christmas bonus,” Schäfer-Klug said. “We will continue to accept such an offer.”
The workforce is shocked, Schäfer-Klug said. Such a behavior would never have been experienced by the employees even under the former owner General Motors. Already under GM Opel thousands of jobs have been deleted and works have been closed, including in Germany the Bochum plant.
Opel boss Micheal Lohscheller said in a spread on Twitter video message that the company wants to invest in Germany and comply with the collective agreement. They had submitted plans for Kaiserslautern and Eisenach which were even better than what was stipulated in the collective agreement. “The prerequisite for extensive investments is competitiveness.”
Altmaier demands sustainable perspectives
The dispute also provoked unrest in Berlin. Federal Minister of Economics Peter Altmaier (CDU) have a keen interest in a sustainable perspective for Opel and its employees, said a spokeswoman.
Of the SPD-Politian Bernd Westphal demanded that PSA must abide by the promises that had been made in the acquisition of the Rüsselsheim car manufacturer: “The SPD parliamentary group stands by the side of the workforce.”
Chancellor Angela Merkel had also demanded that PSA should abide by the commitments. “We now expect the company to comply with everything it promised in connection with the acquisition,” she had said on Wednesday, Altmaier and Minister of Labor Hubertus Heil (SPD) led to discussions at Opel locations.
PSA had previously communicated to create the Opel refurbishment without layoffs or plant closures. Extensive severance packages should reduce the workforce. So far, investment commitments have only been made for Opel plants outside Germany.
Yields apparently improved
CEO Lohscheller noted in the first quarter of 2018 first, small improvements. The “earnings are significantly better,” he said, according to information from the “Wirtschaftswoche” at a staff meeting in Rüsselsheim Adam Opel House.
However, Opel sold 25,000 cars less than a year ago in the first quarter, reported the magazine, citing statements Lohschellers.
The reasons for that see the manager in the from United Kingdom and Gibraltar European Union membership referendum troubled Britain and the weaker Turkish market. Opel wants to invest in Germany, but one must push the costs. “Some of our plants were twice as expensive as PSA plants,” Lohscheller was quoted as saying.