Outlook: So the horse trading begins again. Just a day after the Government pumped a truly obscene amount of taxpayer's cash into two zombie banks, the motor manufacturers are at it with General Motors wanting some financial candy of its own as the price for protecting thousands of British jobs. To be fair, there's good news to report here. The volte face made by GM on the sale of its European operations is infinitely preferable for Vauxhaull car workers in this country when compared to the alternative arrangement. A Russian bankrolled deal to sell to Canadian car-parts maker Magna would have cost many more jobs in this country. So it's no wonder the unions are crowing and Mandy's got a big smile on his face and a cheque book in his back pocket. They're rather less happy in Germany, where other unions are threatening strike action thanks to the demise of a deal that they believed would be far more favourable to them. That may be narrow-sighted. A GM Europe cut loose from its parent would have been a smallish player in a landscape dominated by giants. No MG Rover, for sure, and with much better management, but there were big question marks hanging over it.
Outlook: So the horse trading begins again. Just a day after the Government pumped a truly obscene amount of taxpayer's cash into two zombie banks, the motor manufacturers are at it with General Motors wanting some financial candy of its own as the price for protecting thousands of British jobs. To be fair, there's good news to report here. The volte face made by GM on the sale of its European operations is infinitely preferable for Vauxhaull car workers in this country when compared to the alternative arrangement.
A Russian bankrolled deal to sell to Canadian car-parts maker Magna would have cost many more jobs in this country. So it's no wonder the unions are crowing and Mandy's got a big smile on his face and a cheque book in his back pocket. They're rather less happy in Germany, where other unions are threatening strike action thanks to the demise of a deal that they believed would be far more favourable to them.
That may be narrow-sighted. A GM Europe cut loose from its parent would have been a smallish player in a landscape dominated by giants. No MG Rover, for sure, and with much better management, but there were big question marks hanging over it.
Workers at all four German plants walked out and joined picketers positioned outside the gates at factories in Bochum, Eisenach, Kaiserslautern and Ruesselsheim to underscore their concern that thousands of jobs may be lost. Opel employees were dismayed by an announcement by their parent company, General Motors, that a plan to sell the struggling carmaker to Canadian auto parts supplier Magna and the Russian lender, Sberbank, had been reversed at the last minute. The next few weeks could turn nasty for the two sides after the Opel works council said that, under the circumstances, it would reject wage cuts as a way to salvage the company. GM responded, saying in that case, it would take Opel into bankruptcy.
Workers at all four German plants walked out and joined picketers positioned outside the gates at factories in Bochum, Eisenach, Kaiserslautern and Ruesselsheim to underscore their concern that thousands of jobs may be lost.
Opel employees were dismayed by an announcement by their parent company, General Motors, that a plan to sell the struggling carmaker to Canadian auto parts supplier Magna and the Russian lender, Sberbank, had been reversed at the last minute.
The next few weeks could turn nasty for the two sides after the Opel works council said that, under the circumstances, it would reject wage cuts as a way to salvage the company. GM responded, saying in that case, it would take Opel into bankruptcy.
