Word: gm
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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...With Germany's federal election on Sept. 27 looming, GM's decision provides a huge boost for Merkel, whose conservative Christian Democrats are already well ahead in the opinion polls. Opel employs 25,000 workers in Germany - around half of GM Europe's total workforce. German unions threatened mass demonstrations if GM decided to keep Opel, fearing that option would lead to thousands of job losses in Germany. With the green light for Magna, Merkel has received an important psychological boost and can now tell voters on the campaign trail that she managed to save German jobs...
...Still, even the chancellor admitted the "new beginning wouldn't be easy." Under the deal, Magna and Sberbank will own 55% of the "New Opel", GM will keep 35% and the company's workers will take a 10% stake. GM's chief negotiator John Smith, who flew in from Detroit for a Berlin news conference, said Magna had come up with the best offer. "Magna has a great manufacturing culture and it enjoys the support of German labour unions, and the funding is there. It makes sense," said Smith. But he also warned of job-cuts. Magna's bid outlined...
...That hard work will include further negotiations between GM and the German government. GM wants to keep some ties to Opel's engineering presence in Germany and also retain a veto over any transfer of its technology to Russia. There are also thorny issues over the details of the financing package to work out, though Merkel said today she was confident the obstacles could be overcome. GM's Smith, said he hoped the deal could be closed by November or December. If that happens, America's biggest auto company will finish 2009 in a very different state than it started...
...Roxboro, N.C., makes a 3-in. gadget called a lash adjuster that keeps pressure constant on engine valves, increasing fuel efficiency. Last year Brian Whitfield, a supply-chain analyst at the factory, had plenty of work scheduling orders for raw materials, components and packaging. But with the collapse of GM and Chrysler, business ground to a halt, and when Whitfield arrived at his cubicle on Jan. 20, he found an e-mail from management announcing layoffs. He looked around and saw people leaving, carrying boxes. Then his boss called him into the conference room. "Basically it was, 'Sorry...
...Roxboro Baptist, the Whitfields try to listen to the sermon, but Brian's mind wanders. Last autumn, Debbie warned Brian that the ax might fall. She grew up in Flint, Mich., the granddaughter of a man who participated in the landmark 1936-37 sit-down strike at GM's Fisher body plant that established industrial-labor-organizing rights in America. But she saw her father and uncle go down with the automakers. "When they shut down the Fisher plant [in 1987], everything within a two-to-three-block radius closed down: bars, restaurants, gas stations, banks. Because I lived through...