Statue of Adam Opel in Rüsselsheim
The trained locksmith founded Opel 157 years ago.
Munich, BerlinMore than 500 engineers and skilled workers working in the OpelDevelopment Center ITEZ in Rüsselsheim, now have certainty. In a personal piece of information, personnel manager Ralph Wangemann told each of these employees on Tuesday: “They have been identified by the management for switching to the new company.” One of these e-mails from Wangemann is available to Handelsblatt.
Every affected person is thus clear: Opel is no longer interested in keeping them. In another internal letter, which the Handelsblatt was able to see, the management of the car maker appeals to all the chosen ones, to leave the company voluntarily and to switch to the French service provider Segula before they have to be forcibly relocated.
Segula is a “good choice”, labor commissioner Wangemann’s troops explain: “Therefore, it is still recommended to look in detail at the possibilities and benefits of a voluntary change.”
With these words, the Opel management tries to circumvent tedious formalities and impending legal disputes and save the meager rest of a deal at the traditional vehicle manufacturer For months provides for violent clashes,
Last fall, Opel decided to launch 2000 of 6,500 developers Outsource at the headquarters in Rüsselsheim, to reduce excess capacity. For this purpose, the Hesse agreed a strategic partnership with Segula. The French want to build an engineering campus in Rüsselsheim.
Meanwhile, this agreement has shrunk to barely more than a quarter of its original volume. The reason: The Opel works council has enforced a three-stage process in which the employees have the choice: either they move to Segula, or they leave the company on severance payments, partial retirement or early retirement. In the first two phases, 1 342 ITEZ employees voted against Segula, with only 140 opting for the service provider.
Because the company from Nanterre near Paris, which employs almost 12,000 people worldwide, but absolutely wants to take root in Europe’s most important car market, Germany Governor Martin Lange fights in the upcoming third phase for the favor of the remaining Opel engineers.
On Wednesday, Segula and the Opel management invited to information events in Rüsselsheim and Dudenhofen. Segula advertises with the same salary and wages as Opel, with protection against dismissal until 2023 and crediting of the pension entitlements achieved.
Concern for the dismissal protection
But the union’s confidants IG metal At Opel, her colleagues warn indirectly against the supposedly equal working conditions at Segula. In detail, there are significant discrepancies. To illustrate this, the ITEZ confidential agents had two documents distributed: firstly, the catalog of demands made by the union and works council in October 2018 a condition for the deal with Segula. And secondly, the transfer collective agreement that the IG metal has recently closed with Segula. Both papers are available to Handelsblatt.
The most serious difference concerns the dismissal protection. Although Segula agrees to make no mass redundancies until July 2023 without the consent of the works council. However, the Opel confidants suspect that the works council of Segula could be close to the management and dismiss dismissals without much resistance.
“Please note that there is obviously a BR (Works Council) in formation at Segula before Opel colleagues are on board there,” the fear is justified in a mail among shop stewards. Segula spokesman Immo von Fallois replies: “Our works council thinks and acts independently.”
Another difference: While Opel’s future collective agreement clearly states that the Group is committed to investing in the preservation of the portfolio, Segula is merely planning this. In addition, according to the transfer collective agreement, Segula only wants to set up a co-determined supervisory board if “the number of employees of Segula at the time of closing amounts to at least 1,500 employees”.
Whether the French have actually 1500 employees at the conclusion of the deal with Opel under contract, however, is more than questionable. The interest of ITEZ professionals to move to the French is low. At Opel, on the other hand, there has always been a controlling body with employer and employee representatives.
Many Opel shop stewards can not understand why their own district union has ever signed a collective agreement with Segula. On the other hand, IG Metall Mitte states that its core task is to ensure that there is no “competition for dirt”, that is, collectively bargained businesses.
The majority of trade unionists, however, still share some skepticism regarding the prospects for success of Segula in Germany, The French are largely unknown in this country and have to compete in a highly competitive market.
Trade unionists speak Conti and IAV
In the event that the transaction fails in the end Opel and Segula in the end, because too few engineers could be prepared to work for the French, representatives of IG Metall look for information from the Handelsblatt from industry circles already looking for alternatives. The Hanoverian supplier Continental and the Berlin development service provider IAV would be about candidates, according to industry circles.
Instead of providing Segula with assets and warrants as currently planned, Opel could even make money selling or leasing equipment. After all, test benches and test centers are in enormous demand in times of increasingly costly certification procedures.
“No comment,” said a Conti spokesman. Even an IAV spokesman did not comment on the trade union considerations, but referred to the good business relations of the service provider to Opel and its French parent company PSA (Peugeot, Citroën, DS).
Opel itself is aware of its unwavering commitment to the strategic partnership with Segula. This will come. Segula wants to start in early August in Rüsselsheim. At the end of July, the contracts with Opel be foisted, said Segula spokesman of Fallois.
The French plan to carry out facelifts and derivatives of models on existing platforms, “for example, to make a SUV from a sedan,” as Franck Vigot, automotive CEO of Segula, most recently said the Handelsblatt.
It may take some time until Segula in Rüsselsheim completes facelifts. The more than 500 ITEZ employees, who should still change to the service provider, can theoretically delay the procedure for months.
Thus, the works council could contradict in their name a transfer and thus force a legal dispute. Both Opel and Segula want to avoid this as much as possible. That is why they urge employees to voluntarily switch from the car builder to the service provider. The exit is open.
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