Opel Workers Approve Pay Freeze as Ford Settles Genk Plan
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General Motors Co. and Ford Motor Co., the two biggest U.S. carmakers, won employees’ approval in Europe for labor-cost cut plans to restore earnings in the region in response to a recession that’s reducing vehicle sales.
Manufacturing workers at Ford’s plant in Genk, Belgium, and its suppliers will end walkouts after agreeing to severance packages of as much as 2 1/2 years of pay when the factory shuts in 2014, the company said today in a statement. A pay freeze at GM’s Opel brand in Germany received the backing of employees at three of the unit’s five plants, the IG Metall union said separately.