What got into the German unions? The powerful German metal workers union IG Metall is vehemently against government aid for Opel. The Berlin paper Der Tagesspiegel writes that union chief Armin Schild appealed to the federal government in Berlin and to the Opel states: “No government aid should be given on the basis of this restructuring plan.”
“This restructuring plan” is Nick Reilly’s “Viability Plan VI” which other union leaders already called “a declaration of war.” This restructuring plan – and the closing of Antwerp – already caused the unions to take their wage concessions of €265m annually off the table. That deal was planned for five years. Another €1.3b down the drain.
Quite interestingly, union boss Schild and works council chief Klaus Franz could stomach some of the job losses described in the plan. What irks them is the lack of vision and budgets for a better future of Opel.
In the labor leaders’ cross-hairs: Instead of going 5 years out, as customary, Reilly’s plan ends in 2012. No budgets for new markets. R&D for new power trains: Grossly underfunded. Engines: 5 years behind the competition. DCTs: What DCTs?
A world upside down: Unions worry about long term viability, new markets and competitiveness, while management sabotages progress.
Another world upside down: The unions and the center-right German government, which is usually more business-minded, are in a state of rare solidarity: Nobody is clamoring to rescue Opel.
Reilly wants to collect up to €2.7b from various governments, and said that the plan is already being reviewed by the powers-to-be.
With more than half of the Opel jobs in Germany, the EU’s country with the deepest pockets, one would think that Reilly is in constant contact with Berlin. Nothing could be farther from the truth.
“We have received neither a business plan, nor an application for aid,” said a speaker of the German Economy Ministry to Der Tagesspiegel. “There are no discussions at the moment.”
Reilly’s optimism also causes surprise in the four states in which Opel has plants. “There are no new developments,” said a speaker of the government in North Rhine Westphalia.
Developments or no development: It has been made clear and official that no state government in Germany is willing to help Opel, unless GM puts considerably more money on the table.
In the eternal quest to explain the unexplainable, Der Tagesspiegel has one possible explanation why Reilly is AWOL: Reilly might be back home in the U.K., twisting arms. “In the U.K., where 4,500 people work for GM, a new parliament will be up for election soon. Election campaigns – as proven in summer 2009 in Germany – are the ideal backdrop to loosen some tax payer’s money for Opel.”
True. But once the elections are over …
I’m not surprised. I have relatives that live in Germany, Austria, Switzerland. The attitude to work in those countries is quite different than in the US. In America, a factory worker is seen as being a low class loser, unable, or unwilling, to get a “quality job”, i.e. cubicle monkey . In Central Europe, people who actually produce something of value seem to get a bit more respect, it’s the schemers and wheeler-dealers that are considered to be dodgy characters.
Maybe Nick Reilly is hiding-out in Davos?
You think he was already on the invitee list?
Or maybe, as the former boss of GM China, he still was.
Davos is getting a lot of play in China.
Developments or no development: It has been made clear and official that no state government in Germany is willing to help Opel, unless GM puts considerably more money on the table.
GM needs to give a little more for the effort, eh? Does this mean I should file my return quickly, before my taxes go up?
“A world upside down: Unions worry about long term viability, new markets and competitiveness, while management sabotages progress.”
Yes and no. Part of their duty as union should be defend the stability of jobs to its workers. Call it ideal world, utopia, out of touch with reality, to me part of a union duty is that.
If they don’t see nothing of this on the table, and even worse, see a plan that “ends” in 2012, they are right to worry.
You’ve got to understand, the TTAC commentary is predominantly from a US perspective where it seems the job of the union bosses is to bleed as much money as possible from the companies and the workers that they “represent”. The more oney they have, the more power they can wield in the political arena and the bigger they feel.
Maybe, just maybe, (I know this is a fantasy), the German union has figured out that the current herd of plants in Germany must be thinned, or they will all close. It would be easier for the union bosses to tell the rank and file that it was GM’s fault, than that they agreed to it.
Free Saco!
Fry Vansetti with Meatballs!
LOL Commies!
“Developments or no development: It has been made clear and official that no state government in Germany is willing to help Opel, unless GM puts considerably more money on the table.”
Quite so. This is hardball. The unions and the German government are working together. They know they have Washington over a barrel, and they just finished watching Government Motors pay someone with US tax dollars to take Saab off of GM’s hands. No doubt the Germans were especially impressed that the US government is staying involved in Saab, so that the company can continue to receive $$$$ by routes covert and devious. The one thing the Obama administration can not stand at this point is humiliation and failure (My fellow Americans… we gave GM a hundred billion of your dollars, and now it’s falling apart.), and they will pay any price to avoid it. That’s what the Germans are counting on.
Huh? The only people that are over a barrel are the German Unions and Angela Merkel. They tried to play games with the Russians and Magna and it blew up in their faces.
GM Europe has massive overcapacity and will gladly close the German plants first unless some incentive to keep them is offered. The US government, and the US taxpayer, couldn’t care less what happens to Opel jobs unless they require a bailout from across the Atlantic. If that is requested, the answer will be a resounding no.
Ms. Merkel and the Unions have played their hand and lost. So sorry.
Also, the governemt did not finance the chump change Saab transaction. If Germans actually believe this, they will be very surprised when GM closes German Opel plants. I certainly won’t be surprised.
Maybe wants to wind down Opel without selling it (which would be smart) and just as the unions can blame GM, GM can blame them and just start over with chevy as low cost producer/seller (Eastern Europe).
“rmwill” writes:
“The US government, and the US taxpayer, couldn’t care less what happens to Opel jobs unless they require a bailout from across the Atlantic. If that is requested, the answer will be a resounding no.”
The need for a bailout of Opel will not be presented in the form of a request, and no one at Government Motors or Team Washington will call it a bailout:
https://www.thetruthaboutcars.com/gm-makes-cash-infusion-to-opel-kindof/
Totally different. Keeping Opel alive and subsidizing unneeded high cost plants in Germany are two totally diffrent animals. GM needs a healthy Opel. The do not need excess capacity in countries that are hostile to their business, and run by a leader who is more conerned with her image after the Skerbank/Magna debacle.
If Germans really think they are in the drivers seat, then they are (still) hopelessly out of touch with reality.