Eisenach labor opposes BAIC's offer for Opel
FRANKFURT (Reuters) - Beijing Automotive's (BAIC) plan to idle production in Eisenach, Germany, for two years as part of a takeover of General Motors Corp's GMGMQ.PK Opel unit could effectively ruin productivity at the plant, a senior labor leader said.
"Just as good musicians need the practice, so do our staff. It is a permanent learning process working in a factory since operations are constantly being improved and optimized," Eisenach works council Harald Lieske said on Tuesday, fearing BAIC's plan would represent a "plant closure through other means."
Labor traditionally plays an influential role in Germany, and its fierce opposition to Fiat SpA (FIA.MI) severely weakened the Italian carmaker's position in talks with GM and the German government about Opel.
BAIC is hoping to beat out favorite Magna International Inc (MGa.TO) for Opel.
"At one point GM also considered idling Eisenach for two years as part of its Viability Plan but decided against it because it is practically not feasible," Lieske said.
Even though BAIC proposed to keep the 1,800 workers in Eisenach on the payroll via Germany's generous partial unemployment program, Lieske said the young, flexible and skilled workers highly valued in the industry would almost certainly have to find a new employer in the meantime.
"We ourselves already try to avoid long, uninterrupted periods of 'Kurzarbeit' by splitting stoppages up so production is idled one day out of the week, for example," he said. Kurzarbeit is the German name of the program, which loosely translates to "shortened working."
According to Lieske, Eisenach needs just 14 hours to manufacture a car, making it the most productive of GM's European sites and highly competitive versus rivals in the subcompact segment. Opel builds the Corsa at Eisenach.
The economics minister of the German state Thuringia, where the plant is situated, told Reuters that BAIC's plan was "completely out of the question."
(Reporting by Christiaan Hetzner, editing by Gerald E. McCormick)
