Reuters (Stuttgart) - Union leaders from General Motors' (GM) loss-making plants in Europe on Monday accused managers of blocking talks on the future of operations and conducting a policy of 'divide and rule'.
Mr Wolfgang Schaefer-Klug, the chief European labour leader at GM's Opel unit, said that talks should start straight away, in comments that suggest management's discussions with labour have not progressed in any meaningful way.
'The talks are one-sided, demanding further concessions from labour, but not offering any better prospects for the future in exchange,' Mr Rainer Einenkel, works council chief from the endangered German plant in Bochum, told Reuters.
The setback could threaten to delay a timetable that Opel chief executive officer (CEO) Karl-Friedrich Stracke recently estimated would require two to three months.
The demand was signed by staff representatives from European vehicle and component sites, including Vauxhall's Ellesmere Port plant in Britain and the Zaragoza site in Spain.
'We expect that the mutually accepted view that Opel needs to be profitable even during times when conditions are deteriorating remains valid,' the company said in a response, declining to comment further on Mr Schaefer-Klug's statement.
Separately, European labour leaders at GM's Opel and France's PSA said on Monday they agreed to work together to avoid job cuts that could result from the recent alliance deal signed between the two carmakers.
GM and Peugeot last month announced a global alliance targeting annual costs of US$2 billion (S$2.5 billion) in what a senior executive said was just one part of a fix for its Opel unit.
GM, which has not posted a profit at Opel for years, and other European carmakers face over-capacity and sluggish sales as consumers struggle with economic crisis and government austerity policies to confront a euro zone debt crisis.
Earlier this month, Opel's CEO told reporters the company was in talks with labour leaders but played down expectations a decision could come soon on the future of endangered plants like Germany's Bochum site.
'We are currently in a dialogue with the works councils from all of our sites. We believe It will take some months. It is not a short term thing, where we would say we will present the plan tomorrow,' Mr Stracke said during the Geneva Motor Show.
'It is completely normal process and we cannot and won't force it. We are sitting down together with labour and I think realistically speaking it will take 2 to 3 months.'
