Workers angered by General Motors’ plan to shut down an assembly plant in Portugal will stage protests starting next week at GM factories in Germany and Spain, a labour source told Reuters on Friday.
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“There will be enormous disruptions to production. This could hurt GM,” the source reportedly said, asking not to be named before a formal announcement on Monday about the industrial action.
He told the news agency work stoppages could even jeopardise the launch later this year of the key Opel Corsa subcompact model, which GM is counting on to boost sales and income.
Workers at the Azambuja assembly plant in Portugal walked out again on Friday to vent their fury over the carmaker’s intention to close their factory, Reuters said.
GM reportedly says building Combo delivery vans there costs EUR500 ($US633) more per vehicle than at other potential manufacturing sites and told workers on Wednesday it was closing the plant and shifting production to Zaragoza in Spain.
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By GlobalDataIt later suspended the decision at the request of the Portuguese government to give workers one last chance to propose efficiency steps, but GM has stressed how difficult it will be to close a productivity gap of that size, Reuters noted.
The report said Labour leaders accuse GM of plucking the EUR500 number from thin air to justify closing the plant as part of a campaign to scale back manufacturing in western Europe and move eastward, where costs are far lower.
