2023 Author: Eric Donovan | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-05-21 15:44
The negotiations between IG Metall and the car manufacturer Opel on a collective agreement for the closure of the Bochum plant will enter the next round on Monday. Many details are still open for the employee representatives.
Opel and IG Metall are again negotiating on Monday about a collective agreement for the closure of the Bochum plant. So far there have only been key points approved by both sides about severance pay offers, a transfer company and the safeguarding of the location as a central spare parts warehouse with around 700 positions in the future. From the point of view of the employee representatives, many details are unclear and there is no actionable regulation in a collective agreement.
Around 3,300 Opel employees are affected by the plant closure. According to experts, the exit from production in the Ruhr area will be expensive for Opel: The severance payments and expenses for qualification and transfer of employees to other jobs should add up to more than half a billion euros, it said.
Union calls for a rally
Above all, the union is demanding more information about Opel's plans to increase its warehouse staff by 265 to 700. «For four months now, Opel has not been clear about when which replacement job will be created where. Our members want clear, reliable perspectives. Opel has to deliver”, demanded Knut Giesler, district manager of IG Metall NRW.
Parallel to the negotiations, the union called for a rally under the motto “Opel people need a future”. “Adam Opel AG stands by the commitments from the cornerstones of the social collective agreement. We talk to IG Metall and the Bochum works council to translate these key points into a finished contract,”an Opel spokesman assured.
The plant, which is about to close, will elect a works council again on April 9, which will remain in office until the end of the year. For the election, the previous works council chairman Rainer Einenkel will also run again. The 59-year-old had fought hard for the location and even sued Opel. The process of closing the Bochum plant and relocating Zafira production to Rüsselsheim has already been postponed twice. It should now take place on May 27, as the Darmstadt Regional Court recently announced. (dpa)
