Opel strike drags on in Germany

A strike which has halted production at an Opel car plant in Germany entered its third day today.

Workers are angry at the prospect of job losses after Opel’s parent company, General Motors Europe, announced major cost cutting moves which could see 12,000 jobs axed by the end of 2006.

The stoppage at the plant in Bochum started on Thursday after GM announced the cuts at its money-losing Opel, Vauxhall and Saab operations – the majority in Germany.

GM Europe president Carl-Peter Forster singled out the ageing factory as having a “competitiveness issue.”

Employee representative Franco Biagotti said production remained at a standstill today, while workers planned a meeting to review their strategy. That followed a meeting with management late yesterday which, Biagotti said, softened the “hard front” between the two sides.

Forster said that “there’s no dogma” about the number of jobs that will go in Germany – responding to employee representatives’ assertions that 10,000 positions were at risk, including 4,000 in Bochum.

GM Europe’s program is aimed at saving €500m in annual costs by 2006. In an interview with the weekly Der Spiegel, chairman Fritz Henderson stressed that “it can be achieved without closing a factory”.

Asked whether plants might be closed in the longer term, he replied: “I can’t rule it out.”

“When we plan new products ... we must clarify where their production can usefully be concentrated,” Henderson was quoted as saying. “But that won’t be on the agenda until 2008.”