Magna International Inc. plans to cut 10,500 jobs at General Motors Co.'s Opel unit, Frankfurter Allgemeine Sonntagszeitung reported today, citing an unidentified Magna spokesman.
About 4,500 of the total cuts will be in Germany, the newspaper said in an e-mailed summary of an article to be published tomorrow.
There won't be any forced firings, Frankfurter Allgemeine said, citing Roland Koch, the prime minister in the German state of Hesse, where Opel's main Ruesselsheim plant is based. He dismissed concern that the European Union may block government aid for the Opel rescue, according to the report.
A voice and e-mail message left with Magna spokeswoman Tracy Fuerst, based in Aurora, Ontario, after business hours today wasn't immediately returned. Magna spokesman Daniel Witzani, based in Austria, also didn't immediately respond to a message left on his cell phone.
