FRANKFURT (AFP) - Workers at car maker Opel halted production at a factory in Bochum, northwest Germany, for the fifth day in a row in continuing protest against plans by the group's US parent General Motors to slash thousands of jobs in Europe.
With every sign that both sides were prepared to dig their heels in over the escalating labour conflict, politicians called for an end the wildcat strikes and urged employees to enter into constructive talks with management in order to safeguard the long-term future of the site.


The assembly lines at Bochum were silent for the fifth day in a row on Monday, as workers, ignoring calls by the government and Opel's general works council for a return to work, voted unanimously to stay outside the factory gates.


Economy Minister Wolfgang Clement warned that the workers' hard-line stance could jeopardise the crucial restructuring talks between management and unions that began in Opel's headquarters in Ruesselsheim on Monday.


He said he could understand the workers' point of view but insisted that "that does change my opinion that it is wrong."


Government spokesman Bela Anda urged employees to talk constructively with management so as not to weaken the Bochum site in the long run.


Peer Steinbrueck, the regional premier of the state of North Rhine-Westphalia, where Bochum is based, also called for calm.


Steinbrueck said he, too, could understand workers' anger, but striking would not help.


"If we want to have a long-term perspective for the Bochum site and avoid compulsory redundancies, we have to remain level-headed and professional in the way we go about finding a solution," he said.


The head of the general works council at Opel, Klaus Franz, took a similar tack.


He told the business daily Handelsblatt that the work stoppages at Bochum were understandable from an emotional point of view.


But the action could jeopardise negotiations between management and unions.


"We need an intelligent strategy on the part of workers that entails both negotiation and fight," he said.


Franz was optimistic that a solution could be found, but he warned: "Let there be no illusion -- we won't be able to get around compulsory redundancies."


The workers at Bochum, however, remained adamant.


"It's self-defence," said the head of Bochum's works council Lothar Marquardt. "People fear for their livelihoods."


Production at Bochum has been halted since Thursday. And a Europe-wide day of action has been called by unions and employee representatives for Tuesday.





Production at both Opel's main factory in Ruesselsheim, near Frankfurt, was to be halted temporarily on Tuesday, and some 2,500 workers were also expected to lay down tools at the factory in Kaiserslautern.

Around 10,000 workers were expected to take part in a demonstration in Bochum. There would be no stoppages at the Polish factory in Gliwice, but employees there would be kept up to date about developments in Germany.

The work stoppages in Bochum were already having a knock-on effect on supply of parts used to build Opel's Astra model at factories elsewhere in Europe, Marquardt said.

A Europe-wide stoppage could cost General Motors 10-30 million euros (12-37 million dollars) a day, he estimated.

A labour expert in Munich, Volker Rieble, dubbed the stoppages wildcat strikes, since the unions had not officially called for them and they were not directly connected with concrete wage demands.

As such, the wildcat strikes are illegal under Germany's labour laws.

A spokesman for Opel cautioned the talks that began between union and management on Monday were not likely to yield any rapid results.

A timeframe and the size of the cost cuts had to be established first, he said.

Employee representatives in Ruesselsheim said their main concern was to prevent any plant closures or forced redundancies. They were willing to make a contribution to the 500 million euros in cost cuts that management was aiming for, they said, without specifying further.

Last Thursday, General Motors said it planned to slash 12,000 jobs in Europe -- or around one fifth of its workforce in the region -- in an attempt to steer its European operations back into profit after six years of losses.

Most of the cuts would be made in Germany, with the plants in Bochum and in Ruesselsheim in the main line of fire.