Opel Reaffirms Plan for Investment and Commitment to Tariff Agreement in Germany
2018-04-23
Rüsselsheim. Opel has reaffirmed the plan for investments in its German locations. “Our goal remains to create a sustainable, successful future for our German plants. We want to invest in Eisenach, Kaiserslautern and Rüsselsheim; we want to respect the collective tariff agreements in all production plants. We also confirmed this during the conversation with Peter Altmaier, Federal Minister for Economic Affairs and Energy of the Federal Republic of Germany, and Hubertus Heil, Federal Minister of Labour and Social Affairs last Friday,” said Opel CEO Michael Lohscheller.
“We have laid a sustainable proposal on the table for the Eisenach plant. This plan is an improvement on the existing collective agreement. In order to be able to implement it, we must create competitive conditions for the location,” emphasised Lohscheller. “Even in intensive discussions with the social partners, they have so far made no concrete proposal on how to reach the necessary productivity targets in Eisenach,” added the Opel CEO. The IG Metall had refused to defer the tariff increase of 4.3 percent for the duration of the negotiations which thus has become effective.
The future plan for the Eisenach plant foresees start production of an SUV as early as April 2019. That would be well before the planned start of production of a new model, as provided for in the current collective agreement. “From 2020, a second variant – a hybrid model – could follow in Eisenach,” said Lohscheller.
Opel is also offering projects and capacity utilisation for the Kaiserslautern plant, which extend beyond the duration of the current collective agreement. In Rüsselsheim, the company plans to launch a vehicle in the D segment on the EMP2 platform.
“We want to and will continue to negotiate with the social partners. The status quo is not an option for a company that last made a profit in 1999. We urgently need lower costs and greater efficiency. Then we will invest in Germany. The faster, the better for all of us,” said Lohscheller.
“We have a clear vision and a detailed future plan for our company and already presented it to our social partners in February,” said Lohscheller.
In Germany, the company is relying on voluntary job reduction programmes and is refraining from forced redundancies. “In doing so, we ensure that all key positions remain filled and all areas stay functional in a streamlined organisation – also with regard to the long-term positioning of the German company,” emphasised Michael Lohscheller.
Agreements to restore competitiveness have already been concluded in Spain, Poland, Austria and Hungary. In the United Kingdom, a large majority of Luton plant’s employees approved the new plans only last Friday. This decision triggers large investments.
“We trust in the process of codetermination and that an agreement with our German trade union partners can be found soon – in the interest of our employees,” said Lohscheller.
Over the past four years, Groupe PSA has been demonstrating how a sustainable turnaround works: In 2013, the operating margin of the Peugeot, Citroën and DS Automobiles brands was at minus 2.8 percent. In 2017, it was positive at 7.3 percent. The recurring operating margin of the entire Groupe PSA was 6.1 percent in 2017.