Nothing goes any more between the automobile group Stellantis, directed by Carlos Tavares, and its German subsidiary Opel. In recent days, the disagreement has been escalating on the very sensitive issue of the management of the production sites of the brand in the overseas Rhine and the maintenance of jobs. Friday, October 15 in the morning, the union IG Metall threatened the management of the group with strong opposition from the employees if the reorganization plans were to be put in place.
Stellantis had confirmed, on October 8, information from the daily Handelsblatt, according to which the French group plans to separate the production sites in Rüsselsheim (Hesse) and Eisenach (Thuringia) from the company Opel Automobile GmbH in order to transfer them to independent companies by mid-2022. The two companies would no longer be legally linked to Opel in Germany, but directly to a unit of Stellantis, for example in the Netherlands. The restructuring plan also provides for the Opel plant in Kaiserslautern (Rhineland-Palatinate) to be legally split in two.
Stellantis, which has been in existence since the start of the year, brings together 14 automobile brands, from Peugeot, Citroën and Opel to Fiat, Alfa Romeo and Maserati, including Dodge, Ram and Chrysler. Carlos Tavares is currently seeking to optimize the production capacities of the colossus, in order to reduce costs. The ongoing reorganization at Opel, Stellantis said, aims to “Strengthen cooperation and flexibility within the Stellantis production network”, in order to “To secure long-term jobs”. In total, 4,800 employees, all sites combined, should be affected by this reorganization project, or more than a third of the employees of the brand in Germany. Stellantis clarified that the working conditions of all employees will remain “Unchanged” and “Existing collective agreements and company agreements would continue to apply”.
IG Metall union fears that German “codecision” rules will be bypassed
But that was not enough to convince the employee representatives, who took the announcement of this dismemberment very badly. The IG Metall union is concerned that the German rules of “Co-decision”, which require large companies that 50% of the seats on the supervisory board go to employee representatives, are thus bypassed. The tension increased a notch this week, when another information was released by the press. Employees of the Rüsselsheim development center were reportedly put under pressure during interviews to seek other employment. The German press quotes an information note intended for employees that the DPA press agency was able to consult. Superiors have reportedly threatened to relocate jobs to Morocco, where Stellantis has an engineering and production center in Kenitra. The group’s management did not comment on the information.
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