A good month ago, the Stellantis group startled many Opel employees. Occasion: The group that emerged from the merger of the Peugeot parent company PSA with Fiat-Chrysler toyed with the idea of spinning off the Eisenach and Rüsselsheim plants from Opel GmbH. IG Metall and works councils have already warned against breaking up Opel. They even tried to make comparisons with the fate of Hoechst AG, which was split up in 1999. But now IG Metall reports: "The outsourcing of the Eisenach location planned by the management and the planned outsourcing of the Opel headquarters in Rüsselsheim to the Stellantis Group are off the table."
After the dispute with Opel, the employee representatives of IG Metall and the works council agreed on an amendment to the existing collective bargaining regulations after difficult negotiations, as the union explains.
The Opel site in Eisenach will remain as an independent part of the company under the umbrella of Opel Automobile GmbH.
Opel in Eisenach resumes production
There was unrest there, especially in view of the closure of the plant until the end of the year.
The Grandland X, which was previously manufactured there, is now being manufactured in Souchaux for the time being.
As Opel announced on Friday, the product will start up again in the Thuringian plant in the first week of January.
The global shortage of semiconductors remains a significant challenge for the entire industry.
Thanks to flexible planning, however, production can start again.
Stellantis expected financial benefits from a spin-off through a more efficient and flexible production organization, as it was called in mid-October.
As a result, it will be easier to decide where which model will be built.
Stellantis points out that the Eisenach plant had been independent under General Motors for 23 years.
"Of course, the working conditions for all employees should remain unchanged, the existing collective agreements and works agreements should continue to apply," emphasized a spokesman for Stellantis.