Opel labour representatives warn Opel-PSA talks breach workers' rights
FRANKFURT Feb 14 German labour representatives of General Motors' Opel division said they were caught off guard by reports on Tuesday that GM was in talks to sell the European carmaker to PSA Group.
"If it is true that there were and are talks between GM and PSA with the goal of selling Opel/Vauxhall, it would be an unprecedented breach of all German and European co-determination rights," labour union IG Metall and Opel's works council said in a joint statement.
Workers at large industrial companies in Germany commonly have strong co-determination rights, under which employee representatives can block major strategic moves.
The labour representatives said they would nonetheless evaluate any sale of Opel to PSA without prejudice, based on their previous experiences with PSA. (Reporting by Maria Sheahan; Editing by Christoph Steitz)