Opel workers in Germany have said they will continue their wildcat strike into its second day today to protest against plans by management to cut up to 10,000 jobs.
The strike began early yesterday at the plant in the western city of Bochum, where 4,000 out of 7,600 jobs are at risk. Work continued as normal at the company's two other plants.
"We didn't tell them not to work, it was a spontaneous response out of fear of losing their jobs," said Mr Willi Gröber, plant secretary for the IG Metall union. "They showed up at the plant, but they're standing at the gates and talking. Production is at a standstill."
Mr Lothar Marquardt, employee representative on the supervisory board, said: "How soon we get back to work depends on management. They have yet to come to us with a single concept. Production will only continue when we receive the signal that the reduction of 4,000 jobs is off the table - no compulsory redundancies and security for the plant to 2010 and beyond."
The strike will cost General Motors (GM), the world's largest car manufacturer and Opel's parent company, an estimated €30 million per day. GM management warned yesterday that plant closures were inevitable as the company seeks to cut one-fifth of its workforce and save €500 million by 2006 after €3 billion losses in the past four years.
"We won't close any factories between now and 2006. But after that, we can't guarantee anything," said Mr Fritz Henderson, head of GM Europe, to the Frankfurter Allgemeine newspaper. "It doesn't mean that the factory that loses the race will automatically be shut down. But it's not going to be pleasant."
GM took out full-page advertisements in German newspapers blaming the crisis on "a string of negative economic factors such as the year-long weakness in the German motor market".
However, industry observers have blamed Opel management for steering the 100-year-old company to the verge of ruin by focusing on cheap models such as the Astra while ignoring upper-segment, high-margin market.
Germany's economics minister, Mr Wolfgang Clement, appealed to workers in Bochum to end their strike yesterday, saying "the work has to go on".
A government spokesman said any financial assistance for Opel would contravene EU guidelines and would be inappropriate: "Management decisions which were totally wrong... cannot be compensated with state funds."
