General Motors Europe announced yesterday that it will cut 12,000 jobs on the continent by the end of 2006 in a plan aimed at saving US$617 million per year.
The company said that 90 percent of the cuts would be made in 2005 and that the plan "provides for the majority of the cuts to be in Germany, with a heavy emphasis on managing and engineering."
However, it said negotiations with employee representatives would determine which of its 10 European manufacturing plants are affected.
Negotiations
"The details we must negotiate with our workers councils, beginning today -- and we hope to have an agreement by the end of November," GM Europe spokesman Ruediger Assion said.
GM Europe currently has 62,000 employees.
Separately, German car maker Opel plans to axe 7,000 jobs from a total workforce of 33,000 in Germany, the mass-circulation daily Bild reported yesterday.
However, contrary to the fears recently expressed by unions and politicians, none of Opel's four German production sites would be closed under the restructuring plans, the newspaper said.
Opel's main factory in Ruesselsheim, near Frankfurt, and the site in Bochum in the heavy-industrialized Ruhr region have been seen as the most likely targets for possible closure.
10,000 to 12,000 jobs
Bild said that General Motors plans to slash 10,000-12,000 from a total 60,000 jobs in Europe.
In addition to Opel, GM Europe comprises Vauxhall in Britain and Saab in Sweden.
The woes at Opel were the reason behind German Economy Minister Wolfgang Clement's cancellation of a planned meeting yesterday with his French counterpart Nicolas Sarkozy at the last minute.
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