Magna to Further Reduce Opel Job Cuts in Spain

Canadian - Austrian partsmaker Magna International reached a new agreement with workers at the Spanish production plant in Zaragoza, this time reducing job cuts to 900 workers. The company was initially believed to remove 1,650 jobs at the plant but, after a first round of negotiations, it agreed to lay off only 1,300 employees at Opel's largest factory.

The leading trade union groups UGT and CCOO said on Thursday that Magna agreed to keep the plant untouched until the summer of 2011, Reuters reported today.

"We have reached agreement in principal over an industrial plan for the plant that guarantees production capacity and planned job cuts are less traumatic than initially announced," a spokesman for UGT said.

However, Opel's workers are still keen on continuing their one-day strikes, with the protests projected to take place on Oct. 28, Oct. 30, Nov. 3 and Nov. 5.

"We want to tell GM and Magna that they have to modify their plan in accordance with the size and history of the plant," Jose Juan Arceiz, the plant's union boss told Autonews last week.

The agreement Magna has just managed to reach with Opel Spanish workers is seen as one of the main obstacles for the takeover deal which was initially expected to receive the final go-ahead last week. However, sources close to negotiations indicated that the involved parties might reach an agreement this weekend.

Nevertheless, the new proposal submitted by Magna will be studied on Monday as the unions meet with Opel workers to discuss the terms of the deal.