Opel Workers Protest Job Fears Amid Potential Morocco Production Shift

Responding to the call of the IG Metall union, 50,000 employees expressed their discontent last Friday at Opel sites. They are protesting against the dismantling of the German carmaker. At the origin of this mood movement, the actions taken by PSA, which bought Opel less than five years ago. Semiconductor shortage, production transfers to other sites, short-time work and persistent rumors about a relocation of production to Morocco, where the Kenitra engineering and production center could be expanded... All these actions that anger the employees.

The workers are also concerned about the fate of the factories. It is planned that they will be attached to entities belonging to Stellantis and no longer to Opel Automobile GmbH. According to the unions, these are the harbingers of the closure of the factories in Germany and a large-scale relocation of the German carmaker’s industrial activity. "Splits and relocations will not be accepted without resistance," warned Jörg Köhlinger, head of IG Metall, explaining that the legal restructuring is mainly a way to escape the co-management system, which requires that 50% of the seats on the supervisory board be held by employee representatives.

"Stellantis continues to impose decisions without consulting the collective bargaining structures," said the union leader. Management is acting opaquely, which fuels workers’ fear. This fear is shared by the Christian union CGM in Hesse. The latter fears "that the German production sites are too expensive and that they will simply be sold thanks to their legal independence."