Companies
24/04/2018

Following PSA's Takeover, More Than 4,000 Staff To Leave Opel




There is a high probability that there would be over 4000 staff at Opeal who could resign from their positions by 2020. According to works council chairman Wolfgang Schaefer-Klug. This would be related to the takeover of the German company car maker by the French PSA Group,
 
A plan for the layoff of about 3700 staff – that includes about 1200 employees at the Ruesselsheim-based development unit alone, was presented to the labor union representatives by PSA, said Schaefer-Klug to the media. However, up until now, offers of early retirement have already been accepted by an additional 2,500 Opel employees. At the same time, the company has also presented offers for severance packages worth 275,000 euros (337,000 U.S. dollars) and according to sources, there is a chance of an unknown and unclarified number of staff also agreeing to the proposal.
 
"We are under enormous pressure from people wanting to leave," Schaefer-Klug warned.
 
PASA has already announced ambitious plans for corporate restructuring for Opel which has been making losses for some time, and for this purpose the company has been pressurizing the labor representatives to help achieve the plans. Such pressure was described by Schaefer-Klug as being "unprecedented". There is a huge shock among employees at the manner in which PSA chief executive officer (CEO) Carlos Tavares is attempting to pull out of and revoke the promises that had been made to the employee when PSA had acquired Opel back in August of 2017.
 
Only about 1800 of the total number of 19000 employees at Opel could effectively be protected by the proposals that the company has so far presented to the labor union representatives, Schaefer-Klug complained.
 
The moves have even raised concerns within the German government which has asked the French company to deliver on its promises that it had made about protecting the jobs at Opel when it decides to conducted a corporate restructuring process, when the former had acquired the later. PSA’s management has bene contacted on the issue by both labor minister Hubertus Heil and economy minister Peter Altmaier, announced a spokesperson for the German labor ministry to the press.
 
German Chancellor Angela Merkel had prioritized maintenance of open communicative channels will all of the stakeholders of the issue, said German federal government spokesperson Steffen Seibert.
 
However, there was no confirmation available from Seibert about whether Merkel had raised the in her meeting with the French President Emmanuel Macron when they go together in Berlin, Germany late last week. 13.7 per cent of the stake at PSA is owned by the French government.
 
(Source:www.xinhuanet.com)

Christopher J. Mitchell
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