BOCHUM, GERMANY — Udo Möde steered his Opel compact car slowly over the cracked pavement of the half-empty parking lot at the company’s plant in Bochum, Germany, on a recent workday.
“This used to be full,” said Mr. Möde, 59, who worked 40 years at the plant before taking early retirement several years ago. “You had to get here early to get a spot.” The only people visible on this day were a couple of truck drivers standing idly next to rigs with Czech license plates.
The two-story brick factory is a visible manifestation of the problems facing automakers in Europe — and the communities that depend on them for jobs.
Built atop a former coal mine, the Bochum plant has already suffered waves of layoffs. From more than 20,000 in its heyday, a little over 3,000 people work there now — 5,000, counting subcontractors.
Now, after losing $747 million on its European operations last year — its 12th straight year of losses — General Motors, Opel’s owner, is under intense pressure to make further cuts.
Worker representatives at Opel say they have been told the company must reduce the company’s production capacity by 30 percent. Bochum, as one of the oldest Opel plants, with some of the most highly paid workers, is considered the most endangered.
Opel is an acute example of a problem that also afflicts competitors like Fiat, Renault and PSA Peugeot Citroën. All makers of midprice cars have more factories than they need, while the West European auto market is entering what appears to be a severe slump.
New registrations of passenger cars fell nearly 10 percent in February compared with a year earlier, according to the European Automobile Manufacturers’ Association.
The burden of reducing that costly production surplus is likely to fall disproportionately on communities like Bochum, which depend on the automobile industry for jobs.
The city of 367,000 people in Germany’s industrial Ruhr Valley has already suffered its share of setbacks. All that is left of the mining industry is a museum.
The Nokia cellphone factory shut down in 2008. The unemployment rate is 10 percent, compared with a national average of 7.2 percent.
Despite waves of job cuts, Opel remains the biggest private employer in Bochum. The regional chamber of commerce estimates that 40,000 jobs depend on Opel Bochum, at businesses ranging from parts suppliers to local restaurants.
G.M. has promised to honor an agreement with workers not to close any Opel plants until after 2014. That was part of an earlier cost-cutting program that included closure of a plant in Antwerp, Belgium.
But Bochum workers worry that Opel would stop investing in operations there in preparation for a shutdown once the agreement expires.
The Opel supervisory board met Wednesday in Rüsselsheim, Germany, the center of European operations, but did not announce any decisions. While saying it has not decided to close any plants, G.M. has made it clear that major cost cuts will be necessary in Europe.
“All participants are in agreement that Opel must operate profitably and that measures must be taken to increase sales, raise margins and reduce costs,” G.M. and worker representatives said in a joint statement Wednesday.
Workers vowed Saturday to do everything they could to prevent G.M. from leaving. Several thousand gathered at an indoor arena in Bochum for an informational meeting organized by the Opel workers council in response to the speculation.
Employee representatives handed out T-shirts in bright yellow, the Opel color, that said, “We’re staying in Bochum.”
“Bochum won’t budge, we made that clear,” Carsten Adametz, a toolmaker at Opel, said outside the event.
Workers have some leverage. German labor laws give them a voice in cost-cutting plans. In addition, Bochum is the only factory producing a new generation of the Opel Zafira minivan. A strike could deprive Opel dealers of a key model.
Worker representatives insist that shutting down Bochum would cost more than it would save, because of the need to clean up the site, with its legacy as a former coal mine, to make severance payments to employees and to move production to another factory.
In addition, the shutdown would further damage Opel’s image in Germany, workers say.
“If Bochum closes, it will be one of the most expensive shutdowns in history,” said Rainer Einenkel, chairman of the Bochum workers council.
nytimes.com
“This used to be full,” said Mr. Möde, 59, who worked 40 years at the plant before taking early retirement several years ago. “You had to get here early to get a spot.” The only people visible on this day were a couple of truck drivers standing idly next to rigs with Czech license plates.
The two-story brick factory is a visible manifestation of the problems facing automakers in Europe — and the communities that depend on them for jobs.
Built atop a former coal mine, the Bochum plant has already suffered waves of layoffs. From more than 20,000 in its heyday, a little over 3,000 people work there now — 5,000, counting subcontractors.
Now, after losing $747 million on its European operations last year — its 12th straight year of losses — General Motors, Opel’s owner, is under intense pressure to make further cuts.
Worker representatives at Opel say they have been told the company must reduce the company’s production capacity by 30 percent. Bochum, as one of the oldest Opel plants, with some of the most highly paid workers, is considered the most endangered.
Opel is an acute example of a problem that also afflicts competitors like Fiat, Renault and PSA Peugeot Citroën. All makers of midprice cars have more factories than they need, while the West European auto market is entering what appears to be a severe slump.
New registrations of passenger cars fell nearly 10 percent in February compared with a year earlier, according to the European Automobile Manufacturers’ Association.
The burden of reducing that costly production surplus is likely to fall disproportionately on communities like Bochum, which depend on the automobile industry for jobs.
The city of 367,000 people in Germany’s industrial Ruhr Valley has already suffered its share of setbacks. All that is left of the mining industry is a museum.
The Nokia cellphone factory shut down in 2008. The unemployment rate is 10 percent, compared with a national average of 7.2 percent.
Despite waves of job cuts, Opel remains the biggest private employer in Bochum. The regional chamber of commerce estimates that 40,000 jobs depend on Opel Bochum, at businesses ranging from parts suppliers to local restaurants.
G.M. has promised to honor an agreement with workers not to close any Opel plants until after 2014. That was part of an earlier cost-cutting program that included closure of a plant in Antwerp, Belgium.
But Bochum workers worry that Opel would stop investing in operations there in preparation for a shutdown once the agreement expires.
The Opel supervisory board met Wednesday in Rüsselsheim, Germany, the center of European operations, but did not announce any decisions. While saying it has not decided to close any plants, G.M. has made it clear that major cost cuts will be necessary in Europe.
“All participants are in agreement that Opel must operate profitably and that measures must be taken to increase sales, raise margins and reduce costs,” G.M. and worker representatives said in a joint statement Wednesday.
Workers vowed Saturday to do everything they could to prevent G.M. from leaving. Several thousand gathered at an indoor arena in Bochum for an informational meeting organized by the Opel workers council in response to the speculation.
Employee representatives handed out T-shirts in bright yellow, the Opel color, that said, “We’re staying in Bochum.”
“Bochum won’t budge, we made that clear,” Carsten Adametz, a toolmaker at Opel, said outside the event.
Workers have some leverage. German labor laws give them a voice in cost-cutting plans. In addition, Bochum is the only factory producing a new generation of the Opel Zafira minivan. A strike could deprive Opel dealers of a key model.
Worker representatives insist that shutting down Bochum would cost more than it would save, because of the need to clean up the site, with its legacy as a former coal mine, to make severance payments to employees and to move production to another factory.
In addition, the shutdown would further damage Opel’s image in Germany, workers say.
“If Bochum closes, it will be one of the most expensive shutdowns in history,” said Rainer Einenkel, chairman of the Bochum workers council.
nytimes.com
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