He said what everyone already knew: there will be many job cuts at Opel in Germany.
It only remained to know how much. Wolfgang Schaefer-Klug, chairman of the German car manufacturer’s board of directors, bought last year from General Motors for PSA Peugeot Citroën the requirements of the French group : 3,700 jobs.
To this must be added the early retirement plans and other measures, ultimately leading to the disappearance of 2,000 posts: “Some 2,000 people have agreed to leave and it is likely that 2,000 additional people will accept plans to departure, “explains Wolfgang Schaefer-Klug.
“A clear vision for Opel is missing”
At a press conference, the chairman of the Opel Works Council raises the question of the relevance of the equation made by PSA that seeks to get the German manufacturer out of two decades of losses: “I’m not worried As for the ability to meet the cost targets, the magnitude of the acceptance rate (from the initial plans) raises the question of whether enough staff will be left to manage the current workload. “
He added: “What is missing is a clear vision of the future for Opel in terms of the use of production capacity and guarantees for employment beyond 2020.”
In February 2017, before buying out GM’s European subsidiary, PSA said it would keep jobs at Opel / Vauxhall, reassuring both Chancellor Angela Merkel and the German automaker’s unions.
PSA has at the same time sought to reduce the Opel payroll by around 30% to achieve the same payroll turnover than PSA (10.3%).
The French group is engaged in stormy discussions with the IG Metall union on wage concessions, PSA considering that the German sites of the mark Eclair are not profitable.