The tariff increase won by the trade union IG metal could come later for Opel coworkers: According to a report, the repairing automaker wants to spend the money.
Opel factory premises in Rüsselsheim (archive)
Wednesday, 28.03.2018
12:17 clock
Apparently the automaker wants Opel a pending tariff increase temporarily not pay. Trade unions confirmed a report of “Wirtschaftswoche”, according to which Subsidiary of the French automaker PSA tried the im metalFlat-rate wage increase of 4.3 percent for the time being. The company declined to comment on the ongoing negotiations.
Opel is currently trying to significantly reduce its labor costs. To do this, the group put in December Programs for partial and early retirement as well as on Tuesday a voluntary severance pay program on. The Opel brand has been writing deep red numbers for years. Last year the operating loss was 179 million euros,
The wage increase had the labor union IG Metall only in early February achieved after nationwide warning strikes, But it would not be the first time that Opel an agreed salary hour: as early as 2014, the employees had only one year later than the rest of the industry get more salary.
The upcoming salary increase would have to be paid out with the April statement at the end of the next month. On the other hand, a one-off payment of € 100 agreed in March is to be paid out.
Opel stands to collective agreement
For a deferral, the Opel management would have to conclude a supplementary agreement with the works council and IG Metall on the collective bargaining agreement. The Opel management does not have the intention, however, to get out of the collective agreement, said an Opel spokesman.
The General Works Council Chairman Wolfgang Schäfer-Klug had said in the past week that he sees no reason to further concessions of employees who had already accepted in previous rounds of pay cuts.
According to the dpa news agency, however, the union wants to try to achieve exact production commitments beyond the existing contract in the new negotiations of Opel. This is particularly urgent for the Eisenach plant, in which from 2019 an unspecified SUVs to be built.
By the end of the year, Opel is contractually bound to operational terminations to renounce. There is also a commitment from the French PSA Group to invest in the Opel plants by 2020. At the end of last year, Opel employed 35,700 people in Europe, 19,000 of them in Germany, with its British sister brand Vauxhall.