Thousands in Spain protest Opel job cuts AFP - Sunday, September

[Watchman]

Thousands in Spain protest Opel job cuts AFP - Sunday, September

Workers from a factory of automaker Opel of the town Figueruelas demonstrate in Zaragoza against the decision to sell the factory to a consortium led by Magna, which plans to cut jobs at the site. More than 15,000 people took to the streets of Zaragoza in northeastern Spain Saturday to protest feared job cuts at the Opel auto plant by Canadian car parts maker Magna.

ZARAGOZA, Spain (AFP) - – More than 15,000 people took to the streets of Zaragoza in northeastern Spain Saturday to protest feared job cuts at the Opel auto plant by Canadian car parts maker Magna.

Opel workers carried banners reading "Opel and its subcontractors: for a viable industrial plan" and "We are going to win this fight."

Under a deal unveiled on September 10, US auto giant General Motors agreed to sell a 55-percent stake in Opel to Magna and to state-owned Russian lender Sberbank. GM will retain 35 percent and employees the rest.

The deal covers all GM's European operations except Swedish unit Saab.

With Magna expected to cut 10,000 jobs, there are concerns throughout Europe over where the axe would fall.

Opel has about 7,000 employees at its factory in the Spanish city of Figueruelas near Zaragoza, in the northeastern region of Aragon.

The head of the Opel works council in Spain Saturday called for a "firm and massive" rejection of the planned job cuts.

The mayor of Zaragoza, Juan Alberto Belloch, called on Spanish Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero to become personally involved in the debate.

 

[Watchman]

Spain's Opel workers accept Magna job cuts plan

AFP - Tuesday, October 27


The logo of the German car manufacturer Opel. Workers at the Opel auto plant in Spain voted Monday to accept a plan by Canadian auto parts maker Magna International that would see the loss of 900 jobs at the factory, unions said.

MADRID (AFP) - – Workers at the Opel auto plant in Spain voted Monday to accept a plan by Canadian auto parts maker Magna International that would see the loss of 900 jobs at the factory, unions said.

Members of the UGT and CCOO unions voted to approve the plan by a huge majority, and its leaders lifted a strike call.

Magna and unions at the Opel factory in Figueruelas, northern Spain, reached the preliminary deal on Thursday.

It envisages the loss of 900 of the more than 7,000 jobs at the factory, less than the 1,300 Magna had sought when the talks began last week and around half the number it had originally proposed.

Magna also undertook to maintain the bulk of the existing production at the plant, which produces the Corsa model. Unions had feared some of the production would be moved to Germany.

Struggling US giant General Motors last month announced the sale of a majority stake in its loss-making European arm Opel to Magna and its partner, Russian state-owned lender Sberbank.

Magna is reportedly planning to cut 10,500 Opel jobs across Europe.

The European Commission said earlier Monday it has given itself until November 27 to rule on whether the purchase poses competition concerns.

The commission has been concerned that 4.5 billion euros (6.7 billion dollars) in promised German aid was only available to Magna, which would violate EU competition regulations.