3,700. This is the number of jobs that should be eliminated by 2020 Germany in Opel as part of the plan presented by the group PSAWolfgang Schäfer-Klug, chairman of the manufacturer’s works council, told a press conference on Friday. Disagreement by the PSA group in a statement. “In the light of current speculation, the PSA Group confirms that Opel currently complies with all existing collective agreements on production and that all other information is pure speculation,” the document states.
Earlier in the day, Wolfgang Schäfer-Klug fired on PSA, a little over a year after the takeover of Opel from its historic owner General Motors. “We will meet the objective of downsizing without any problem,” he said, adding that “the problem is that people are running away from Opel”. According to him, early retirement plans and other measures have already resulted in the loss of 2,000 jobs at German sites. A trend that should continue: “It is likely that an additional 2,000 people will accept plans for departure,” said Wolfgang Schaefer-Klug Friday, April 20.
And to wonder: “I’m not worried about the ability to meet the cost targets, the magnitude of the acceptance rate (of the plans of departure) leads to ask if it will remain enough manpower to manage the current workload. ” All in all, “what is missing is a clear vision of the future for Opel in terms of the use of production capacities and guarantees in employment beyond 2020,” said the head of the works council.
Tense negotiations
According to him, the PSA’s proposals guarantee “only 1,800 jobs”, out of the more than 19,000 that Opel has on German soil. These criticisms come amid a growing tension between the PSA group and the IG Metall union around the future of the German production tool. The tricolor group is counting on a return to profitability for its new German brand by 2020, after two decades of losses. And wants to achieve this by using methods already proven in French factories producing Peugeot, Citroën and other DS.
On the program, shifting models on the PSA architecture, compacting factories and increasing their utilization rate, resorting to voluntary departures and postponement of wage increases. So many issues that tense the negotiations between PSA and the powerful German union IG Metall. Last point of tension: the refusal to give up a 4.3% increase in remuneration from the trade union, in exchange for the allocation of a new model within the Eisenach plant , in the center of Germany. He currently produces the models Corsa and Adam, but could produce only one vehicle, the Grandland. A threat to the 1800 employees.
IG Metall representative Berthold Huber sees the request as a form of “blackmail” by Opel and PSA officials. Exchanges that led German Chancellor Angela Merkel to intervene midweek. She invited the PSA group to respect the commitments made at the time of the Opel acquisition in 2017. At the time, Carlos Tavares had insisted on the preservation of jobs and production sites, under existing agreements current respectively … until 2018 and 2020.
With Reuters