PSA Peugeot Citroen will meet with its European works council meeting in two weeks to discuss the planned alliance with General Motors.
FO union leader Jean-Francois Kondratiuk said French, Spanish, British and German members of PSA’s European works council asked for an extraordinary meeting concerning the alliance. This will take place on 16 March at the PSA group’s Paris headquarters.
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The tie-up announced earlier this week sees GM take a 7% stake in PSA. Both companies have so far refused to discuss the future of factories or jobs under the alliance which has worried unions.
Both manufacturers are considered burdened by overcapacity and also struggling with falling sales in Europe and concerns over the euro.
Losses of nearly US$750m in GM’s European operations marred a record year of profits in 2011 while Peugeot, which sells two-thirds of its vehicles in Europe, saw sales drop 1.5% last year while its profit halved.
The Peugeot family has said that the future of the company’s many existing cooperation agreements with other manufacturers would be dealt with “on a case-by-case basis.”
These include agreements with BMW to build petrol engines, Fiat and Turkey’s Tofas to build light trucks and Ford for diesel engines.
PSA also works with Mitsubishi to build SUVs and electric cars, Toyota on small cars and with Renault to build engines and other components.
PSA Peugeot Citroen and GM said their planned global alliance is aimed at saving US$2bn a year in costs.
French industry minister Eric Besson said the deal was “good news” for jobs, adding that he had been assured that the partnership will be favourable to PSA’s employment and presence in France.
