Bob King Intervenes In Bochum, Receives Cold Shoulder

Bertel Schmitt
by Bertel Schmitt

UAW boss Bob King told Opel’s Bochum workers to vote again, and to this time accept a deal that had been worked out between the German metal worker union IG Metall and GM.

According to Reuters, “UAW President Bob King, who is a member of Opel’s supervisory board, said on Tuesday that workers at GM’s Opel plant in Bochum, Germany should ask to vote again on the restructuring deal they rejected last month that would have kept the plant open through the end of 2016 and retained 1,200 of the more than 3,000 employees.”

The plan had been overwhelmingly rejected by Bochum’s workers. The plant is now scheduled to close by the end of 2014.

King, who oddly sits on Opel’s Supervisory Board as a representative of the union despite being the chief of one of GM’s biggest shareholders, said he “would really hate to see that plant closed when so much effort was put in by IG Metall and the works council to save it.”

The plan is likely to fall on deaf ears. “We gave the employee a clear choice,” spokesman Harald Hamprecht told Reuters. “We respect the outcome. The Opel supervisory board acted accordingly and we are moving on.”

Bochum’s workers have not been heard of, but it is unlikely that they are sympathetic to the plan. They had accused their unions of throwing them under the bus, and they probably won’t listen to a major shareholder of GM.

King is trying to curry favors with IG Metall, and to enlist its help for the UAW’s efforts to organize the U.S. plants of German transplants.

Bertel Schmitt
Bertel Schmitt

Bertel Schmitt comes back to journalism after taking a 35 year break in advertising and marketing. He ran and owned advertising agencies in Duesseldorf, Germany, and New York City. Volkswagen A.G. was Bertel's most important corporate account. Schmitt's advertising and marketing career touched many corners of the industry with a special focus on automotive products and services. Since 2004, he lives in Japan and China with his wife <a href="http://www.tomokoandbertel.com"> Tomoko </a>. Bertel Schmitt is a founding board member of the <a href="http://www.offshoresuperseries.com"> Offshore Super Series </a>, an American offshore powerboat racing organization. He is co-owner of the racing team Typhoon.

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 4 comments
  • Lowsodium Lowsodium on Apr 24, 2013

    Like an infectious disease, hes just looking for a host.

  • Silvy_nonsense Silvy_nonsense on Apr 24, 2013

    Bob King is America's sweetheart. He's been spreading goodwill and cheer around the world since 2010. Bob needs to hurry back to the U.S. so he can convince the assembly workers at Nissan, BMW and Volkswagen to adopt the awesome, UAW-endorsed 2-tier pay scale. What worker wouldn't want a 50% pay cut? International Brotherhood of Workers! Justice, Equality and Fraternity! The same good deal for all, except new members, who get much less! Unionize now!!

  • Burakvtec Burakvtec on Apr 24, 2013

    I drove 4 years opel astra 2001 model,visiting service for every stupid breakdown and many many people like me so I will be glad to see opel has difficult days ,they deserved that

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