Workers at Opel plants in Germany are demanding a strategic plan from parent company PSA following the publication of investment plans for PSA factories in France.
Reuters reports that Opel's works council has demanded 'constructive proposals' from PSA and that labour union IG Metall has rejected PSA's demands for further concessions to become more competitive.
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The report notes that PSA managers have pointed to high production costs at loss-making Opel, which it bought last year from General Motors.
Late last year, as part of a drive to reduce costs and make PSA's Opel-Vauxhall unit more competitive, workers at Opel in Germany agreed to have their hours pegged at 35 hours per week.
Groupe PSA-owned Opel-Vauxhall has outlined a business plan that avoids plant closures and aims to put the company on a path to profitability by 2020. No plant closures are planned (for now) and the emphasis is on efficiency gains to lower breakeven.
In November, Groupe PSA chief Carlos Tavares described the situation for loss-making Opel-Vauxhall as 'dramatic' and said it faces headwinds in Europe as it strives to become profitable. However, he said there is a significant opportunity to rescue the company, building on the experience of the turnaround at PSA. "What has been done in the last 50 years did not work," he said. "That is a fact."
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By GlobalDataTavares stressed the need for Opel-Vauxhall to lift its performance from within. "There is no intention to micro-manage Opel-Vauxhall," he said. "It is in the hands of the CEO and managing board. Management must manage." He also said that "people are not the problem, people are the solution."
