The news of Congress killing the bailout plan got Europe really worried about the survival of Opel and Saab. Work is afoot to keep them viable, even if GM should go under. Workers at Opel are willing to trade salary cuts for a stake in the company. One condition: Opel severs financial ties with GM. That according to Auto Motor und Sport via Reuters. AMS has access to internal documents from the IG Metall engineering sector union. Opel management is looking for $750m in costs savings. According to the paper, the unions are willing to give them the savings, in return for getting a part ownership of Opel. The union has told GM management that the plan “hinges on separating flows of finance between GM’s European business and struggling parent GM,” Reuters says. Otherwise, the danger of the money “disappearing in the big GM pot is too great,” the working paper says. Euphemisms aside, “separating financial ties” means separating ties, period. A month ago, the German metal workers union had already offered pay concessions, under the condition that Opel is being separated from GM. More money could be coming from governments. As reported in today’s WAS, the Swedish government already has offered financial support for Saab. The German government has been petitioned for $1.34b in loan guarantees. Now if Saturn goes to China, and if Opel gets liberated, what would be more logical than a Saturn-Opel-Saab pact, helped along by the Swedish, German, and Chinese governments? Meanwhile in the UK, Vauxhall offers workers 8 months off for 30 percent pay, the Times reports. Vauxhall made this offer to most of the 2200 workers at its Ellesmere Port in Merseyside.
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waaaait a second?! auto workers taking a pay cut for long term security? you gotta be shittn’ me.
…The German government has been petitioned for $1.34b in loan guarantees…
Sorry to say that the loan /guarantee promised from Angela Merkel e.g. German government is to (already gone) GM – not to still breathing Opel.
@Tom
You are correct – thats what I meant.
The government is rightly worried that any help to the GM group via a German guarantee to Opel Germany would go to be incinerated at the ailing mother back home.
Thats the only stumbling block for the ok.
By the way Opel dont need such huge sums – compared to the needs in the US pocketmoney.
Still the promise is here to help Opel – and Opel only
Makes sense as Opel in Europe is a profitable company
Sorry to say that the loan /guarantee promised from Angela Merkel e.g. German government is to (already gone) GM – not to still breathing Opel.
Where did you get that from? First of all they promised nothing. Secondly, everything I’ve heard so far was that the German government was extremely skeptical about financial help because they didn’t want their money to be burnt in Detroit’s incinerators.
They said that should they provide any money, GM/Opel would have to make sure that it will benefit only Opel and the German workers.
The German loan guarantees are still undecided
I strongly suspect that selling Opel would rob GM of its engineering capabilities – worsening the outlook for a GM restructuring even further…
Since Opel and Vauxhall are inexoribly linked within GM, would an Opel split from GM signal the end of Vauxhall, or is the British subsidiary supposed to follow Opel? I notice Opel is referred to as “GM Europe” in the article, but that would indicate the Chevrolet, Hummer, and Cadillac brands’ inclusion as well, which isn’t true.
here is an article i cant believe TTAC hasnt done yet. Someone wiht more resources then me should do a side by side income comparison of the Average UAW Worker VS Average Factory Worker VS Average Joe Income
i would be interested to see the answers
Begs the question…are UAW and its workers ready to “invest” in their future?
here is an article i cant believe TTAC hasnt done yet. Someone wiht more resources then me should do a side by side income comparison of the Average UAW Worker VS Average Factory Worker VS Average Joe Income
Why don’t you add:
* Average for a new lawyer in Washington
* Average for an established laywer
* Average for a automotive engineer at GM
* Average for a senior F&A manager at GM
* Average for an American automotive CEO
* Average for a Japanese automotive CEO
* Average for all American CEOs
* 98th percentile adjusted income in 1970 vs 2005
* 50th percentile adjusted income in 1970 vs 2005
I think you’d see answers that were even more interesting.
Chrysler, GM and Ford workers should do exactly the same.
Opel, as far as I know, was losing money…
I already did this for you several days ago
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