BERLIN (Reuters) – Stellantis’ Opel’s largest plant in Russelsheim and a second plant in Eisenach, Germany will remain part of the Opel Automobile Group, German union IG Metall said on Wednesday after speculation that they could be split off.
A Stellantis spokesperson said in September that a split-off structure could be more efficient and flexible for the organisation after German newspaper Handelsblatt reported it was under consideration.
In a statement, IG Metall said the works council and union representatives had agreed that such a split was off the table.
Eisenach will become its own company within Opel Automobile GmbH, while Russelsheim legal structure will remain as it is, the union said.
“The outsourcing and break-up of Opel was prevented and employment secured. I hope that management will steer the company more constructively and transparently into the future from now on,” Joerg Koehlinger of IG Metall said.
Stellantis confirmed the news in a statement sent shortly after IG Metall’s release.
(Reporting by Victoria Waldersee in Berlin and Gilles Gillaume in Paris; Editing by Riham Alkousaa)
