Opel Spanish Workers Resume Work

Last week, Magna received what seemed to be the first good news in months for the company: Opel's Spanish workers agreed with a restructuring plan which basically means the local labor unions will agree with the Magna - Opel deal. Employees at the Zaragoza plant announced however four strike days to demonstrate against Magna's proposed job cuts.

But according to just-auto.com, workers agreed to call off the strike days, initially scheduled for 28 and 30 October and 3 and 5 November. The initial Magna job cut affected 1,700 employees but, after a first session of negotiations, the Canadian - Austrian partsmaker agreed to reduce it to only 1,300. Recently, after further talks with labor unions, the company finally agreed to lay off only 900 jobs.

Meanwhile, negotiations for the Opel sale continue as GM's board will hold its monthly meeting on November 3 to study the latest changes in Magna's proposal.

"Given the significance of the Opel transaction, GM’s Board will soon meet in its regularly monthly meeting (November 3) to consider Minister zu Guttenberg’s letter and changes to the Magna/Sberbank proposal that have occurred since it’s last review on September 9," John Smith, GM Group Vice President Corporate Planning and Alliances (and GM’s chief negotiator for the sale of a stake in Opel/Vauxhall), said in a statement last week.

Furthermore, a new idea broke cover this week claiming that General Motors might retain possession of Opel and start restructuring using government money. It might appear that the German government might after all agree with such a plan, even if GM's officials repeatedly said that it's in the interest of the company to sell Opel.