Skip to main content

Opel workers in Germany vent anger at GM

RUESSELSHEIM, Germany (Reuters) - Thousands of Opel auto workers in Germany downed tools on Thursday to show their anger at U.S. parent General Motors for its decision to abandon a Russian-backed rescue plan.

"We want Opel to continue to exist," Hesse state Premier Roland Koch -- one of the biggest lobbyists for a sale to Magna (MGa.TO) and its Russian partner Sberbank (SBER03.MM) -- told rallying workers at Opel headquarters in Ruesselsheim.

"We will have to fight again with the goal of saving jobs."

GM's board this week reversed the U.S. carmaker's decision to sell a majority stake in Opel, angering the governments of Germany and Russia and irking Opel staff in Germany who had pinned hopes on Magna to save as many jobs as possible.

Around half of Opel's 50,000 staff work in Germany.

One worker protesting GM's decision in Ruesselsheim was dressed as an undertaker and carried a black coffin made of styrofoam. Another held a sign that said: "We don't need sex because management screws us every day."

Like Magna, GM plans to cut Opel staff by a fifth and has said its European arm faced insolvency if workers do not agree to cost cuts and countries with Opel plants do not contribute to its 3 billion euro ($4.5 billion) restructuring plan.

As anti-American sentiment swelled in Germany, Koch warned GM not to "maximize profits by taking German workers hostage".

Staff had agreed with jilted suitor Magna on 265 million euros in annual savings, but Opel labor leader Klaus Franz again rejected cost concessions from workers to help out GM, whom many in Germany blame for mismanaging Opel into losses.

"Workers will not contribute a single cent," he declared, accusing GM of "threats, blackmail and intimidation".

CHERRY-PICKING

The reaction in Germany is in sharp contrast to that in Britain, home of Opel's sister brand Vauxhall, where workers have welcomed GM's decision to hang on to its European arm.

GM is counting on European countries that host GM plants including Germany, Britain, Spain and Belgium to provide financial support for a sweeping restructuring that aims to cut fixed costs at Opel by 30 percent.

European Union Industry Commissioner Guenter Verheugen urged Opel nations to stick together to boost their bargaining power.

"If everyone negotiates for himself with Detroit, the Americans will be able to pick the best offers," he told German paper Hamburger Abendblatt paper. "It is questionable whether that would be the most economically sustainable (approach)."

Opel workers across Europe had reached a deal on cost concessions with Magna this week after months of tense negotiations. Franz tore that deal up in disgust when GM reversed course and decided to keep Opel.

GM cited improving business conditions and the strategic importance of Opel, its European backbone, which also provides technology the group uses around the world.

European Union competition regulators on Wednesday urged GM to draft a restructuring plan driven by economics.

GM Europe head Carl-Peter Forster told German newspaper Bild he now expected "massive cuts" at Opel.

"We had negotiated a good restructuring plan which was ready and on the table," the paper quoted him as saying. "Now there is a danger that the sensible distribution of the burden we had agreed will unravel and the process will start all over again. One thing is certain: even with this solution, there will be massive cuts."

John Smith, GM's lead negotiator in the Opel deal, told a conference call on Wednesday the company had narrowly opted to retain Opel, because they believed losing it could have left a strategic gap in its operations.

Elsewhere in the automotive industry, the world's biggest carmaker Toyota Motor Corp (7203.T) posted a surprise quarterly profit and halved its loss outlook.


Tags : Worldwide Daily News, International Space Station, Nasa News Today, latest WWE News, Bollywood Stars

Source:in.reuters.com

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Kerala boat tragedy: Thirty five bodies have been fished out of the water

THEKKADY / KOCHI: A thick veil of grief descended on the famed tourist spot of Thekkady on Wednesday when Kerala witnessed its worst ever boat tragedy in the Mullaperiyar waters as the KTDC’s Jalakanyaka, carrying about 76 passengers, sank. Thirty five bodies have been fished out of the water. Any hope of finding more tourists alive faded with the daylight even as rescue personnel continued their desperate search. The two-deck boat, commissioned just a month back, was returning to the boat landing after an hour-long sight-seeing trip when tragedy struck. All the passengers on the upper deck apparently rushed to one side of the boat to take photos of a lone bison spotted on the shore. At the same time many from the lower deck flocked to the top leaving the lower almost empty. This movement and the uneven distribution of weight caused the boat to overbalance and turn turtle. Those remaining on the lower deck were trapped inside while about 20 on the upper deck were rescued by other boa

Special Status For Jammu & Kashmir Scraped: 5 Points About Article 370

Jammu & Kashmir will also be "reorganized," Home Minister Amit Shah said as talks about the state being trifurcated into three separate fields- Jammu, Kashmir and Ladakh NEW DELHI: Article 370, which gives Jammu & Kashmir unique status, will be withdrawn this morning in parliament, Home Minister Amit Shah said . The announcement came after his cabinet meeting at his house this morning was held by Prime Minister Narendra Modi . Article 370 is a ' temporary provision ' granting special autonomous status to Jammu & Kashmir . It allows the state to draft its own Constitution and restricts the legislative powers of the parliament over the state. The government therefore requires state government approval for all legislation, except those related to defence, foreign affairs, finance, and communications. Parliament can not also improve or decrease the boundaries of the State under Article 370 As a consequence, citizens of Jammu & Kashmir

Enai Nokki Paayum Thotta Movie Review: Tiring and Unsatisfying

Movie Rating: 3/5 First of all things! The director's weakest film is the long delayed Enai Noki Paayum Thotta by Gautham Menon . The film's main weakness is the director's fascination with narrative style voice-over. It was good before Gautham used voice-over as a medium to tell his stories, but every scene in Enai Nokki Paayum Thotta begins and ends with Dhanush's voice-over, which irritates us after a point. The film is filled with tired stereotypes, and at a runtime of 157 minutes it is an unsatisfying watch. Like any other movie from Gautham Menon, here too hero Raghu (Dhanush) is a student of engineering, but this time his wife is not a student, but a film heroine Lekha ( Mega Akash ).She tells him she is not interested in movies and her boss Kuberan (Senthil Veeraswamy) coerced her into the profession for money (it looks like the girl is an orphan and Kuberan supported her studies and is her guardian). Raghu takes her to his Pollachi house and introduc