Opel set to slash 2000 jobs
2010-02-02 09:11
Frankfurt - General Motors is planning to axe 2 000 additional jobs at its Opel arm but has changed its mind on management cost cuts, European labour leaders said after a face-to-face with Opel's boss on Monday.
It was the first face-to-face meeting between the two sides since GM angered labour last month with the announcement that Opel's Antwerp plant would close, a move one union leader called a "declaration of war".
"According to the plans, headcount will be cut by 2 000 additional persons in comparison to management statements in public," Opel's European works council said in a statement after meeting with Opel Chief Executive Nick O'Reilly.
An Opel spokesman said the company was sticking to the 8 300 job cuts it had announced as part of plans to reduce capacity by a fifth to counter feeble demand that could stay weak for years. GM has said that 4 000 of those cuts would be in Germany.
Documents from GM's "Viability Plan VI" seen by Reuters showed the number of Opel staff slated to fall by around 9 960 to a total of 37 700. Germany would take the brunt of cuts, with 5 660 jobs to go.
The labour officials also said they learned in the meeting Opel no longer planned to reduce management costs by 35%.
"On the contrary, new management staff has been hired," they said.
GM has said it wants staff to accept its plan by mid-February to help the carmaker shrink to a profitable size.
Insisting that Antwerp stay open, labour has frozen negotiations with GM over the automaker's proposal to make 265m euros in annual wage cuts across the continent over the next five years.
GM wants 2.7bn euros in state aid either as loans or loan guarantees to help finance the 3.3bn euro revamp.
All countries that host major Opel manufacturing sites - except Belgium - will remain open in principle to extending state funding, GM CEO Reilly said last week.
Opel is expected to submit a formal aid application to Germany in days, once the company gets the required independent expert opinion on the viability of Reilly's plan.
Reilly has said that Opel has enough liquidity to operate "well into the second quarter".