Works council agrees hours and pay cuts at car firm

The works council at the Opel plant at Rüsselsheim Germany has reached a local agreement with management, to cuts hours and pay as a way of saving jobs.

Opel, which like Vauxhall in the UK belongs to the US giant General Motors, has faced lower than expected demand for the models made at its Rüsselsheim plant.

With 1,200 jobs under threat the works council, which represents all the employees at the plant, reached a deal with management earlier this month.

This sees the working time of initially 3,500 but possibly later some 5,500 production workers cut from 35 to 30 hours a week, while their earnings are reduced by the equivalent of 2.4 hours a week, a loss of around €85 a month after tax.

In addition other employees, whose workload has increased, have agreed to work an additional three hours a month unpaid, while managerial staff lose two days holiday a year.

In return management has agreed that until the end of 2005 it will avoid any redundancies. For Klaus Franz, the chair of the works council keeping jobs means the agreement is worthwhile. "No-one will be abandoned", he says.