Works council and management of Opel have agreed on the reorganization of the loss-making car manufacturer. As part of the agreed compromise, the French parent company PSA Peugeot Citroen announces investments in new models and plant utilization.
In return, the works council cleared the way for the removal of 3,700 jobs requested by PSA. The dismantling should take place exclusively on a voluntary basis through partial retirement, early retirement and redundancy payments, the total works council announced. For all other employees a protection against dismissal was agreed until the summer of 2023.
The Union IG metal had threatened to aggravate the conflict, employment at the three German plants in Rüsselsheim, Kaiserslautern and Eisenach should not be secured beyond 2020.
Peugeot had made concessions to the workforce for new models and products. PSA boss Carlos Tavares wants to lead the chronically deficit brand with the flash and their British sister Vauxhall out of the red by 2020.
Recently, both sides had argued violently about a severance program. The works council accused the Opel management, with a clear cut in Germany the future of Opel to stake. Then Opel suspended the voluntary redundancy program to get the talks going again.
PSA had taken over Opel last year from General Motors. The Group has agreed not to close any plants in Germany and to waive redundancies. Already under the American parent company, thousands of jobs had been cut and the vehicle factories in Bochum and Antwerp closed. Opel has been in the red for almost 20 years.