Joint statement on upcoming meeting of the GM Board of Directors
Joint statement of the European Employee Forum of General Motors (EEF), the European Metalworkers’ Federation (EMF) and the European Unions on the upcoming meeting of the GM Board of Directors
The European Employee Forum of General Motors (EEF), the European Metalworkers’ Federation (EMF) and the European Unions are deeply concerned that GM´s strategy regarding the sale of Opel may lead all European workers into yet another limited situation exactly as we were some months ago.
The taxpayer´s money that enabled us to avoid bankruptcy was provided to overcome a limited situation and to make sure that workers, as well as suppliers continued to receive their wages and salaries while the constitution of a new company was being developed.
It was not provided in order for GM to gamble with the different bidders, taking care of its own interest and ignoring the position of the workers.
What we are now witnessing is GM wasting time and money by once more delaying the final decision with an incomprehensible strategy.
The EEF, EMF and the European Unions strongly oppose any further delay of the Opel/Vauxhall sale because it could put Opel/Vauxhall at risk again in terms of insolvency and the needed approval of the future business/restructuring plan by the EU-Commission.
Therefore, the EEF, the EMF and the European Unions ask that the General Motors Board of Directors agree to a recommendation on an investor at its meeting on September 8 that can then be made to the Opel Trust Advisory Board who has the final say.
The EEF, EMF and the European Unions are convinced that a decision on the Opel/Vauxhall sale on September 8 is in the common interest of General Motors, Opel/Vauxhall and its European workforce.
After the decision on the investor is made, negotiations between Management and the European unions, the EEF and EMF will have to take place. The EEF, EMF and the European Unions emphasize their common position that any negotiations involving the European Unions, the EEF and EMF must be based on a sustainable business plan which has to meet certain goals:
- Improvement of actions on the revenue side (especially with regard to the evaluation of the sales assumptions)
- The Product portfolio
- Engineering responsibilities
- The Manufacturing footprint
Moreover, the most important demands of the European Unions, the EEF and EMF are for:
- No plant closures
- No forced redundancies
- A fair distribution of production and of the burden of restructuring.
For more information, please contact Tony Murphy, EMF Director of Company Policy
