BERLIN, April 20 (Xinhua) -- More than 4,000 employees could leave their posts at Opel by 2020 after the German car maker was taken over by French PSA Group, works council chairman Wolfgang Schaefer-Klug told the press on Friday.
According to Schaefer-Klug, PSA had presented labor representatives with plans to lay off 3,700 employees, including 1,200 positions at the Ruesselsheim-based development unit alone. However, an additional 2,500 Opel workers had also already accepted offers of early retirement while a still-unknown number of staff could accept severance packages worth 275,000 euros (337,000 U.S. dollars).
"We are under enormous pressure from people wanting to leave," Schaefer-Klug warned.
He described the pressure exerted by PSA on labor representatives in order to achieve progress in ambitious corporate restructuring plans at loss-making Opel as "unprecedented". Employees were "shocked" by apparent attempts by PSA chief executive officer (CEO) Carlos Tavares to hollow out and revoke assurances made earlier to the labor force when Opel was acquired in August 2017.
Schaefer-Klug complained that the proposals which labor representatives had received so far from PSA would only protect 1,800 out of a total of 19,000 jobs.
The German government has expressed its concern over the development, and urged PSA to keep the promises made with regards to protecting staffing levels during a process of corporate restructuring. A spokesperson for the labor ministry told the press on Friday that labor minister Hubertus Heil and economy minister Peter Altmaier had both contacted PSA's management.
German federal government spokesperson Steffen Seibert said on Friday that it was a matter of priority for Chancellor Angela Merkel to maintain open communicative channels with all parties involved.
Nevertheless, Seibert was unwilling to comment on whether the dispute between PSA and Opel workers had been a subject in discussions between Merkel and French President Emmanuel Macron in Berlin on Thursday. The French government owns a 13.7-percent stake in PSA.
