France - General Motors workers accept pay freeze - July 20, 2010

Car workers in eastern France agreed to a salary freeze and reduction in days owed as part of conditions imposed by General Motors Co GM.N (GM) to keep the plant in question open. GM had originally put the Strassbourg plant, which produces automatic transmission systems for GM and BMW cars, up for sale, but failed to complete the transaction. After emerging from bankruptcy in 2009, GM offered to repurchase the plant on 16 July for a symbolic Euro and on condition that costs fall by 10%. Under these conditions, 70% of the 1,150 workforce accepted a salary freeze for two years and a reduction of time off taken for accumulating extra hours.

English: http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSLDE66J0GD20100720

via http://www.labourstart.org/cgi-bin/show_news.pl?country=France

This article was published in the Collective Bargaining Newsletter. It aims to facilitate information exchange between trade unions and to support the work of ETUC's collective bargaining committee. For more information, please contact the editor Maarten van Klaveren, Amsterdam Institute for Advanced Labour Studies (AIAS) M.vanKlaveren@uva.nl. You may find further information on the ETUI atwww.etui.org, and on the AIAS at www.uva-aias.net. © ETUI aisbl, Brussels 2009.