Job cuts in Antwerp - don't forget who wanted to close the plant!

We lost last year the Azambuja plant and we all knew that fighting against a closure of a Delta plant would be a real challenge and not just a game. 5 plants for the next Delta - everybody knew there wouldn't be enough volume to fully utilize all these plants with Opel and Vauxhall Delta cars. But the EEF with all its union and works council representatives made GM Management quite clear that if they try to close a plant they would get a real fight which would hurt the whole business in Europe. But also everybody was aware that this kind of fight no side would be able to win it. The result had been a defeat for the company and for the union and workers. But the EEF was convinced that after Azambuja we had to stop the next potential plant closure with all our strengths taken all the consequences ("moving East") in consideration. A next plant closure would have been an enormous impact also for all the other plants taken their future at risk. So don't forget that Antwerp was ready for closure according to General Motors. And also please do not forget that dealing with GM means to deal with a multinational company which is going to close approx. 12 plants in North America.The decision of GM Management not to allocate the next Delta in Antwerp was a political decision and a slap in the face of all the Antwerp workers, but it doesn't help to complain or even to strike for weeks or months trying to fight against a global company. For every strike you do need in the end a potential solution. So the next step was important for the EEF to put pressure on GM to allocate alternative products and models in Antwerp and to get future volume as much as possible. This wasn't an easy business even for the GME management, because this kind of decision they can't take by themself. Where do now the 120.000 units for Antwerp come from? Originally, the plan was to produce more and more cars outside of the existing European plants, exporting more cars from Asia, producing more cars in new facilities in Eastern Europe. Can you image what it meant to get this 120.000 units for Antwerp? Sometimes you can have the impression that in the current struggle in the Antwerp plant this has been forgotten. GME Management gave also a clear committment to evaluate with the antwerp unions and the EEF until 2009 an additional model and one thing is also clear. Antwerp will produce these SUV models exclusively in Europe until 2016 and GME is willing to give a guarantuee for the plant until 2016. Which other plant has this kind of security at the moment? Yes, the job cuts are a big blow for the plant and difficult to accept for everybody, but would have been a closure the better alternative? Let's focus from the European perspective on 2 things: Getting a buy-out progamme which at least is the comparable with VW Brussels and getting an additional model until 2009 for the plant. To make this happen a 3 shift operation in the plant is absolutely crucial. The GM/GMS template is based on a 3 shift model and now it is also important to focus on a plan how the run out of the Astra and the decreasing volume during the life cycle can be combined with the production start of the new model and a potential 3rd model in the future. There is a lot work to do and the last thing the workers in Antwerp need are unions which are fighting against each other. Let's make a personal comment. I do not understand why people in this blog blaming Rudi Kennes for whatever. To be very honest without the work of the Delta group with Rudi as the chairman the Antwerp plant would no longer exist after the end of the current Astra. That's a simple truth. And it is also a simple truth that the strength of the Delta group was that the 2 big Antwerp unions were part of the group - the plant´representatives as well as the union secretaries and that we took all decisions together without fighting against each other. It was the job of Rudi Kennes (ABVV) and Luc van Grinsven (ACV) as worker representatives of the antwerp plant and members of the EEF to work together and with the EEF to keep the plant open. Even when the current situation hurts I think they did it successfully!

By the way, we should also not forget that the other Delta plants also facing difficult challenges. For example the Bochum plant will get the next Astra but the GM plan is to cut 1750 jobs. And the capacity utilization in Trolllhättan is also a real challenge. The GM plan is to cut 1400 jobs. So solidarity means also not to forget that other plants are facing also serious challenge´s despite they will get the next Delta. Our only chance to deal with GM successfully is to hold a united stand. But one thing is for sure nobody can really expect that we get all what we would like to have.

W.