FRANKFURT, May 19 (Reuters) - Management and labour at General Motors unit Opel are close to reaching a deal that would cut wage costs at the troubled European carmaker, both sides said in a joint statement on Wednesday, May 19.
"In the coming days, management and labour leaders will work towards a final agreement," they said following a meeting of its top European worker representatives at Opel’s headquarters in Ruesselsheim, Germany.
Opel is hoping to extract 265 million euros ($329 million) in annual wage concessions from its 50,000 strong workforce, who are also being asked to accept thousands of job cuts at the same time in order to return Opel to breakeven by next year.
Opel is also hoping to receive loan guarantees of over 1 billion euros from the German government that could help fund its operations. ($1=.8054 Euro)
