FRANKFURT (AFP)--Unions representing European staff of U.S. auto
giant General Motors Corp. (GM) called on workers to protest
Thursday in a bid to save their jobs and call for state aid.
Staff at Opel plants in Germany and its sister U.K. brand,
Vauxhall, are expected to hold a demonstration against the threat
of job cuts.
"We want to expose our demands clearly once again," Rainer
Einenkel, the head of the works council at GM's plant in Bochum,
western Germany, said Tuesday.
Einenkel said he would attend a meeting of Opel's supervisory
board on Friday where management would present an "Opel rescue
plan" at the meeting at the request of the German government.
Under German law, labor representatives are granted 10 seats out
of 20 on a company's supervisory board.
Echoing Einenkel's call to protest, the European Metalworkers
Federation, or EMF, said in a statement Tuesday that it would
oppose any forced plant closures or job cuts.
Leaflets handed out at Opel's main plant in the western Germany
city of Ruesselsheim demanded that there should be "No plant
closures and no layoffs" and called for workers to protest
Thursday.
Germany's Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier, the Social
Democrat candidate in September's general elections, is expected to
attend the rally.
Berlin told Opel to come up with a viable business plan if it
wants to benefit from state aid, with unions saying the company
needs at least EUR3.3 billion ($4.2 billion) to survive.
The Financial Times Deutschland reported Tuesday that Berlin
might be willing to pump money into Opel, without citing
sources.
Another option is acquiring a direct stake in the ailing
automaker, although the idea is opposed by some within the
country's ruling coalition.
In Sweden, workers in Saab's Trollhaettan plant also were urged
to rally after the company filed for bankruptcy protection last
Friday.
Swedish authorities have flatly refused to provide Saab with
direct aid, but have said they would only step in as a guarantor on
loans from the European Investment Bank if a new buyer could be
found.
Scarce consumer credit has seen auto sales plummet worldwide,
with Saab badly hit by its aging product line and the strength of
the Swedish krona to the U.S. dollar - its largest export
market.
GM employs 55,000 workers in Europe, primarily in the U.K.,
Germany, Spain and Sweden. The company wants to restructure its
European organization as it looks to stem huge losses.