The strike at the Opel plant in Figueruelas is called off after workers ratify Magna's savings plan

The Works Council of the Zaragoza plant of General Motors Spain has announced that the strikes that had been called for 28 and 30 October and 3 and 5 November have been called off, as workers and unions have finally accepted the industrial plan recently presented by Magna International, after many days of tough negotiations between the imminent new owner of Opel, its employees in Figueruelas and the Spanish and Aragonese governments.

Although Magna’s recent proposals included more than 1,500 redundancies at the Zaragoza factory, the final one foresees 900, although its conditions still have to be negotiated, which will be the next step and also very complicated. In addition, it includes a savings plan of €25.8 million a year, which will be obtained partly from the salaries of the employees, who will have to vote on it once it has been defined.

However, as the secretary of the Figueruelas Works Council, Ana Sánchez, explained, the above must be added to the Employment Regulation Files (EREs) that have been applied, so that cuts in wages will be somewhat minimised. Likewise, it was agreed with the plant’s unions, UGT, CCOO, USO and Acumagne, that they will be greater for workers who earn more to make the process more equitable.

On the other hand, the chairman of the Works Council, José Juan Arcéiz, has stated that the severance payments for the redundancies will be based on the same basis in all of Opel’s European plants, but taking into account the tax differences of each country. Despite these measures, the latest agreement with Magna provides for maintaining Figueruelas’ production capacity, as well as guaranteeing production of the new generation Meriva from next year and that of the following Corsa in 2013.

Via | IbercajaMotor