At Opel, the hard restructuring is progressing, the production in the main Rüsselheim plant is apparently to be reduced by a third. Trade unions resist the plans.
Employees of Opel at the Rüsselsheim headquarters (archive photo)
Thursday, 04.04.2019
13:29 clock
The shop stewards of IG metal make front against plans of the new parent company PSA, the capacity of the Rüsselsheimer Opel’s main plant drastically reduce. According to reports, the plans are to reduce production by a third with currently 3,000 employees. “We do not accept this shrinkage strategy,” says a resolution widely used in the work. First, the newspapers of the “VRM Group” reported on it.
Instead of 60 cars according to the plans in the main plant still 40 cars per hour roll off the line. 2021 could be built so far in Poland Compact model Astra return to Rüsselsheim and complement the mid-size car Insignia. The company again pointed out that the second model for Rüsselsheim will be called later this year.
The shop stewards demanded a transitional strategy short-time workinguntil the new model comes to Rüsselsheim. A further reduction of permanent staff will not be accepted. The trade unionists told PSA to employ a far higher proportion of temporary agency workers in exploitative conditions at the French factories. A systematic use of temporary workers on permanent workplaces is what you want Opel prevent.
Many temporary workers
The division of the development center with around 7,000 employees is advancing according to the engineering service provider Segula, who wants to take over 2000 people from Opel. The remaining employees will continue to develop Opel models and perform key tasks for the PSA Group. Since the beginning of recruitment on Monday, more than 300 developers have shown interest in switching, said Segula spokesman Immo von Fallois.
According to Fallois, there is no progress in the negotiation of a domestic collective agreement at Segula. You are in good contact with the IG Metall district in Frankfurt. The French service provider guarantees the changers the unchanged fees and working hours, the assumption of the pension obligations as well as the protection against dismissal also valid at Opel until the end of June 2023.
Meanwhile, many Opel employees are turning their backs on their company. More than 1000 employees of the development center were already interested in the new severance program negotiated by IG Metall, according to workers’ circles.