Workers Want To Trade Pay For Shares In Separated Opel

The news of Congress killing the bailout plan got Europe really worried about the survival of Opel and Saab. Work is afoot to keep them viable, even if GM should go under. Workers at Opel are willing to trade salary cuts for a stake in the company. One condition: Opel severs financial ties with GM. That according to Auto Motor und Sport via Reuters. AMS has access to internal documents from the IG Metall engineering sector union. Opel management is looking for $750m in costs savings. According to the paper, the unions are willing to give them the savings, in return for getting a part ownership of Opel. The union has told GM management that the plan “hinges on separating flows of finance between GM’s European business and struggling parent GM,” Reuters says. Otherwise, the danger of the money “disappearing in the big GM pot is too great,” the working paper says. Euphemisms aside, “separating financial ties” means separating ties, period. A month ago, the German metal workers union had already offered pay concessions, under the condition that Opel is being separated from GM. More money could be coming from governments. As reported in today’s WAS, the Swedish government already has offered financial support for Saab. The German government has been petitioned for $1.34b in loan guarantees. Now if Saturn goes to China, and if Opel gets liberated, what would be more logical than a Saturn-Opel-Saab pact, helped along by the Swedish, German, and Chinese governments? Meanwhile in the UK, Vauxhall offers workers 8 months off for 30 percent pay, the Times reports. Vauxhall made this offer to most of the 2200 workers at its Ellesmere Port in Merseyside.