GM: future of Belgian Opel plant is uncertain
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| A torn German flag flies from a car's antenna in front of the Opel plant in Bochum, Germany. General Motors top European official, Nick Reilly underlined the future importance of Opel's biggest German plant in Ruesselsheim on Wednesday while predicting up to 9,500 job cuts and indicating that two plants, in Bochum and Kaiserslautern, will remain open, but has not spoken about plans for the fourth German site, in Eisenach. (AP Photo) |
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RUESSELSHEIM, Germany (AP) — An Opel plant in Belgium faces an uncertain future as General Motors Co. moves to restructure its European operation, a drive expected to cost some 9,000 jobs across the continent, a top executive said Wednesday.
Nick Reilly, the head of GM Europe, detailed GM's plans to employee representatives from Opel and sister brand Vauxhall. He said action is needed because "the competition in this industry is intense and getting fiercer every day."
"Overall, we are going to reduce our capacity by around 20 percent and we expect to reduce the number of people by approximately 9,000," he told reporters after the meeting.
Reilly did not give an exact breakdown of how many jobs might go where, but said that "probably between 50 and 60 percent" of the cuts would be made in Germany.
Opel employs around 45,000 people in Europe, about 25,000 of them in Germany. Reilly made clear Tuesday and Wednesday that Opel's four plants in the country will remain open.
However, it is unclear whether the Antwerp, Belgium, plant will survive.
"We have agreed to set up a work group on the Antwerp plant because the future of that plant is uncertain," Reilly said. "So we have agreed to consider and consult on alternatives for that plant."
Reilly did not say what those alternatives might be.
He stressed that "no final decisions" have been taken pending consultations on the restructuring plan, and acknowledged the need to conclude those soon following months of uncertainty over Opel's future.
"We stressed that we must get this phase over as quickly as possible because the uncertainty that's been hanging over some parts of Opel and Vauxhall is doing nobody any good," Reilly said. He added that he hoped to conclude consultations within two or three weeks.
GM shocked Germany and other European countries earlier this month by abruptly canceling the planned sale of a majority interest in Opel to a consortium of Canadian auto parts maker Magna International Inc. and Russian lender Sberbank.
On Monday, GM asked European governments to help pay most of the €3.3 billion ($4.9 billion) it needs to restructure its European operations.
"We do expect some contributions from employees and we are hopeful that we will get some funding help from governments," Reilly said Wednesday.
