The lossy carmaker Opel do not come to rest. Speculations about a partial sale of the development center (ITEZ) in Rüsselsheim have now alarmed the works council. The committee is planning a short-term business meeting with the management for Thursday. “A (sale) of the Opel development Opel would take the future,” criticized the employee representatives.
According to a media report, the French parent company PSA 
about it, yourself separate from a part of the development center with its more than 7000 engineers , PSA and Opel had explored several development service providers to submit these takeover bids, reports the French newspaper “Le Monde”.
Among other things, “Le Monde” relied on a document dated mid-May. The newspaper also referred to a non-named source from the environment of the PSA executive committees. Accordingly, a sale of part of the Opel development is in planning, which affects a quarter of employees.
If the information from the French press is correct, this would mean that PSA and the Opel management have been in sales talks for a long time and knowingly told the IG Metall and the unification office, the works council criticized. At that time, the management denied concrete sales intentions or concrete sales offers.
“Strategic Partnerships with other companies”
Opel boss Michael Lohscheller tried to smooth the fronts. “Our engineering is and will remain the core of Opel,” he wrote in a statement. All future Opel models would be developed in Rüsselsheim. In addition, Rüsselsheim undertakes numerous important tasks for PSA.
The order volume of the former Opel mother General Motors will decrease drastically in the coming years, Lohscheller continues. Therefore different options would be checked. “Strategic partnerships with other companies are part of these considerations”. There is still no decision. “It goes without saying that our social partners are involved in the process.”
By the end of May, companies and workers had been wrestling for weeks agreed on job security until July 2023 , Opposed to wage concessions of the remaining employees, Opel promised to reduce the core workforce at the German locations from the current figure of about 19,000 by only 3,700 – on a voluntary basis through various severance packages and early retirement programs.
Opel stands to safeguard job security and want to fix this possible this week in a collective agreement, said Lohscheller. At the same time, however, he said: “We have regularly discussed with IG Metall and the General Works Council since December 2017 that we are considering strategic partnerships in engineering as an option to secure long-term employment in the ITEZ.” This information is also part of the agreement signed last year by the General Works Council.
Opel was acquired last August by the PSA Group, which already includes the brands Peugeot, Citroën and DS. PSA boss Carlos Tavares had announced in the past to receive Opel as a German brand. The development center should play an important role in this. Group-wide, it is to be responsible, among other things, a new family of gasoline engines, the fuel cell or seats. According to previous plans, around 1000 jobs are to be eliminated in the ITEZ.