Canadian auto parts maker Magna and its Russian finance partner plan to cut 10,500 jobs in Europe when taking over car makers Opel and Vauxhall, 4,500 of them in Germany, a German newspaper reported.
The Frankfurter Allgemeine Sonntagszeitung (FAS), in its weekly edition to appear Sunday, reported the number of anticipated job cuts citing a spokesman for Magna.
The weekly Der Spiegel put the job losses at Opel in Germany at 4,100, with the buyers of a controlling stake in General Motors’ European units planning “to eliminate 3,000 jobs in production and 1,100 in administration”, Der Spiegel reported without citing any sources, in its edition to appear Monday.
Both reported figures are higher than previous estimates of job losses.
Germany’s Economy Minister Karl-Theodor zu Guttenberg also said that there could be more job cuts than originally expected.
“Since spring, it was known by all the parties, including representatives of the (Opel) employees, and from the information I was given, that the number (of job cuts) mentioned by Magna only concerned the productions sector but other job cuts were feared in administration,” Guttenberg said in an interview to appear Sunday in the Bild am Sonntag.
Magna had earlier indicated that it wanted to cut about 10,000 of the 50,000 jobs in GM’s European units, Opel and Vauxhall. Half of the workforce is in Germany where there are four Opel factories.
“The central administration at Ruesselsheim won’t be spared,” Roland Koch, head of the Hesse regional government, referring to one Opel facility, told the FAS.
Under the deal announced Thursday, GM will sell a 55-percent stake in Opel to a consortium equally owned by Magna and state-owned Russian lender Sberbank. GM will retain 35 percent and employees the rest.
Elsewhere in Europe there were also worries about where Opel’s new owners would make the major cuts that analysts say are crucial for long-term survival.
Opel has about 7,000 employees in Spain, 4,700 at Vauxhall in Britain, 5,500 in Belgium, 1,800 in Italy, 1,600 in Austria and 1,500 in France, according to GM Europe’s website.
