GM boss warns of more job cuts in Europe

Mar 29, 2007, 16:27 GMT

Dudenhofen, Germany - The head of General Motors' European operations warned Thursday of more job cuts at the company's Opel, Saab and Vauxhall plants.

This was because productivity at the plants was growing at an annual rate of 3-4 per cent but the market for cars was stagnating, Carl-Peter Forster said at the Opel test centre in Dudenhofen.

Forster said a decision on where the jobs would go would be made at the end of the year once the company decided which plants would produce the next generation of Opel's top-selling compact model Astra.

'It could happen that jobs will go in some factories. We don't know where or how many. In extreme cases we might be forced to shut down a plant,' Forster said.

Car plants in five countries are bidding to construct the new Astra model, which is due to roll off production lines in 2010. The plants are Bochum in Germany, Antwerp in Belgium, Ellesmere Port in England, Gliwice in Poland and the Saab plant at Trollhattan in Sweden.

GM, which employs 60,000 workers in Europe, has shed more than 12,000 jobs as part of a restructuring programme introduced in 2005 to cut losses in its European operations.

Last year Opel recorded a net profit of 227 million dollars - its first in seven years.

As part of the cost cutting measures, GM closed its Opel plant at Azambuja in Portugal, cutting 1,100 jobs.