Open doors. The number of employees leaving Opel should far exceed the expectations of PSA, the new owner of the brand to lightning. According to Wolfgang Schäfer-Klug, head of Opel’s works council, more than 4,000 employees are already willing to leave the entity. This without taking into account the generous plan of departure plan open to all employees at the end of March.
The 2,000 employees who have already accepted the early retirement program set up at the end of 2017 are in fact adding some 2,000 employees who are preparing to do so. “It is a movement of flight,” laments Friday the head of the EC, who wonders if there will then be enough arm to perform the tasks requested. To redress the accounts of its German branch, the French manufacturer would have claimed “only” 3,700 job cuts by 2020, says Wolfgang Schäfer-Klug.
At PSA, we still give a single numerical target: that of the expected decline in the Opel payroll – about 30%. As a reminder, half of Opel’s workforce is located in Germany, with around 19,000 employees, including some 8,000 engineers.
In fact, the real front between PSA and Opel’s employee representatives is about investment and product allocation at German sites. Claiming Carlos Tavares not to honor as promised the agreements on investments negotiated before the buyout, the Opel EC and the union IG Metall categorically reject the offer of the French group, which proposes to allocate the production of large gasoline engines at the Kaiserlautern plant, the development of light commercial vehicles at the Rüsselsheim R & D site and a model – the Grandland X SUV – at the Eisenach plant. In exchange for wage moderation and more flexible hours.
No Christmas bonus
This offer ensures the work of only 1,800 employees, irritates the EC. “An investment plan is planned for each of the sites in Germany. It will be implemented as soon as performance conditions are met, “PSA said in a statement. The group also claims to “respect all existing collective agreements on production”.
“It’s a blackmail,” insists Berthold Huber, the former boss of IG Metall stakeholder in the discussions. PSA would also ask all Opel employees to give up their the 4.3% increase negotiated by IG Metall for the entire metallurgy industry, as well as their Christmas and holiday bonuses. And this rather than a simple postponement, as is customary in Germany for companies in difficulty.
In short, it is a real clash of cultures that shakes Opel. Accustomed to co-management, a mantra across the Rhine, representatives of the brand at lightning do not accept to be subject to “take or leave” of the management of PSA. Who, for his part, insists that Opel can not continue to claim money every year from its parent company to make up for its losses. Like the time of General Motors.
Carlos Tavares, the boss of PSA, met Friday with Peter Almaier and Hubertus Heil, the German ministers of Economy and Labor.