Opel wants to cut up to 1,000 jobs in Germany

Opel

The automaker from Rüsselsheim could cut more jobs.

(Photo: dpa)

Vienna Barely returned from the summer break, many Opel employees received unpleasant news from their management on Thursday. At a town hall meeting at the car manufacturer’s headquarters in Rüsselsheim, Labor Director Ralph Wangemann announced that he intends to continue the existing voluntary downsizing program. Several participants confirmed this to the Handelsblatt.

According to reports, Wangemann did not give any details. In any case, his options are precisely defined – he can cut a maximum of 1,000 jobs by the end of the year in a socially responsible manner through partial retirement, early retirement or severance pay. This is provided for in a key agreement between the management and the works council dated December 18, 2019, which the Handelsblatt was able to see.

A company spokesman said on request: “The management of Opel Automobile GmbH is in talks with the social partners about reopening the existing volunteer programs.” The aim is to improve the competitiveness of the company, which is part of the 14-brand Stellantis group to strengthen in the long term.

“Against the background of the rapid transformation of the industry, the pandemic, the geopolitical situation, fragile supply chains and massive increases in energy and raw material prices, the company wants to open the volunteer programs for up to 1,000 additional employees in Germany,” explained the Opel spokesman.

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According to internal sources, the planned cuts will also mean the selective recruitment of specialist staff. 170 young people have just started an apprenticeship at Opel. In addition, the Hessians are specifically looking for software specialists and some designers.

Savings program could be expanded

At the same time, insiders expect that the planned job cuts will be expanded from 1,000 to 2,000 jobs in the coming year. The reason: According to the key issues paper from the end of 2019, the Opel management is fundamentally entitled to do so. At that time, management and the union had laid down in detail which investments were planned in the factories and under what conditions job cuts could take place by the end of the decade.

In essence, Opel assured the employee representatives in the agreement that all three variants of the compact Astra (five-door, station wagon, hybrid version) would be produced again in Rüsselsheim from 2021. Opel has now kept this promise.

In return, the union agreed to voluntarily cut up to 2,100 jobs by the end of 2021, on condition that the remaining workforce’s protection against dismissal would be extended from mid-2023 to mid-2025.

Opel has already made use of this option. However, the key issues paper provides for another automatism that HR manager Wangemann would now like to set in motion. Accordingly, the manager is entitled to open the voluntary reduction programs for up to 1,000 other employees this year. This would automatically extend the protection against dismissal for the workforce until July 2027. This is exactly what Opel is planning now.

From 2023, however, Wangemann could push ahead with the elimination of 1,000 additional jobs – whereby this would simultaneously extend the protection against dismissal for the remaining troops until July 31, 2029.

If that were the case, Opel would have cut almost 11,000 of the approximately 19,000 jobs in Germany since 2017 alone. Unlike before, however, the brand with the lightning bolt has been generating solid profits since 2018.

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