Mexican Media Brands
Opel Near Deal to Cut Hours at Two Plants
General Motors Co.'s Opel unit says it is close to signing an agreement with its unions to shorten operating hours at two facilities in Germany: a car plant in Russelsheim and an engine and parts factory in Kaiserslautern.
#labor
Share
General Motors Co.'s Opel unit says it is close to signing an agreement with its unions to shorten operating hours at two facilities in Germany: a car plant in Russelsheim and an engine and parts factory in Kaiserslautern.
News reports predict a deal will be reached by Wednesday, thus allowing the new schedule to go into effect on Sept. 1.
Opel confirmed last week that it was in talks with labor officials in Russelsheim about reducing production shifts by an unspecified amount.
The company is seeking the flexibility to shorten or extend daily or weekly work schedules based on vehicle demand, according to The Wall Street Journal. Germany's Handelsblatt says Opel wants to move to from a five-day to a four-day work week at the two factories. Both newspapers cite unidentified sources.
GM is pressing for a turnaround of its European unit, which lost $617 million in the first half of this year. Shorter work hours would trim labor expense and more closely align output with shrinking European sales.
RELATED CONTENT
-
UAW Launches Strike Against GM
As expected, some 48,000 of the United Auto Workers Union members began a strike at midnight Sunday against General Motors Co. facilities in the U.S.
-
Tesla Fires Hundreds of Employees It Considers Sub-Par
Tesla Inc. dismissed roughly 400 hourly and salaried employees last week, according to The Mercury News in San Jose, Calif.
-
Cheerio Car Shows (?)
While there is all manner of consternation regarding Brexit in the U.K. and the E.U.—the issue of the Brits departing from the European Union—there is an exit of another sort that could conceivably be telling—a small clue, mind you, but a clue nonetheless—about the future of the automobile in the U.K.