GM Europe, Workers Reach Deal On Reduced Hours
January 12 2009 - 7:50AM
Dow Jones News
FRANKFURT (AFP)--General Motors Europe, a unit of ailing U.S.
giant GM (GM), said Monday it had agreed with staff representatives
on a plan to reduce the number of hours worked amid a general slump
in the auto sector.
Management and staff "have agreed on a partial framework
regarding work time reduction and short work," a statement
said.
"Working time reductions, sabbaticals and short work will be
partially subsidized by GM according to defined standards," it
added.
The framework accord was aimed at allowing plants "to adjust
production capacity in the most cost efficient and socially
responsible way," the company said.
GM directors will continue to work with employee representatives
to find ways of achieving "the necessary overall cost saving
objectives."
A separate statement by GM Europe staff unions said "the lasting
and dramatic drop in automobile markets forces manufacturers to
take exceptional measures."
Their statement quoted works committee secretary Klaus Franz as
saying the deal "protects staff from drastic financial damage."
Workers are to receive aid from both the state and GM
Europe.
Details were not provided for individual sites, which must
negotiate a local agreement within the framework accord,
however.
"With this European accord, we have laid an excellent basis to
make decisions quickly on flexibility at German sites," the
statement quoted Opel human resources director Holger Kimmes as
saying.
GM Europe, which produces Opel, Saab and Vauxhall brand autos,
has been hit hard by the sector slump.
In 2008, the group saw European sales fall 6.5% to 2.04 million
vehicles, including a decline for Opel/Vauxhall models of 10%.
Opel was one of the first German car makers to announce
large-scale technical layoffs as a result of the economic
downturn.
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