Opel, the sick man of the German car, is still in a critical condition. And it is not certain that the potions bitter as it currently operates are not in the process of withdrawing its last forces. The recovery plan underway in the constructor, destroying the trust in the new parent company, PSA. Celebrated recently in Berlin and Rüsselsheim (Hesse), at the headquarters of the group, as the savior of the brand to the lightning, the French manufacturer is, since a few days, under the fire of criticism. In addition to a conflict is hard on the cost reduction, it is the bleeding of the best elements that threat today Opel.
The atmosphere began to deteriorate in February, when the trade union IG Metall, has obtained, for employees of the industry, a 4.3 % increase, as well as advances in the flexibility of working time. The new collective agreement is implemented without difficulties by most of the companies in the automotive industry in Germany, but it poses a problem in Opel, which urgently needs to reduce its costs. The management has proposed to the union that it shall not apply, in the specific context of the recovery plan, and then, in the face of fierce resistance from IG Metall, she finally tilted, Monday, April 16. But by announcing, at the same time, the freezing of investment at the site in Eisenach (Thuringia).
The conflict is immediately soured. For weeks, the trade union calls for concrete commitments of the PSA on the future of sites of Rüsselsheim, Eisenach and Kaiserslautern (Rhineland-Palatinate), whereas the plants of the Spanish and the british have already obtained promises of production lines. IG Metall, accuses the French group of wanting to put pressure on wages by threatening not to entrust production to the German sites.
Half of the 1,800 jobs could disappear in Eisenach
If the current plans for PSA to Eisenach were put in execution, has clarified…
