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I lavoratori della SAAB hanno decretato uno scioperp dopo aver appreso che la GM europa ha l'intenzione di ridurre anche in Svezia il numero di operai. si parla di 500 dipendenti.

Associated Press
Workers at Sweden Saab Plant to Protest
10.19.2004, 05:04 AM

Thousands of workers at Saab's last Swedish automobile manufacturing plant will stop working for two hours Tuesday, protesting a planned wave of job cuts by General Motors that will see 12,000 jobs in Europe eliminated by 2006.

Union leader Chresten Nielsen said the action wasn't a strike per se, calling it instead an informational meeting during work hours.

"There is a development agreement, and according to this the labor organizations have the right to give information during working hours," he said. "We have never used this possibility in a way that has stopped production. This will be the first time."

He said that production would be idled for two hours.

The plant employs more than 6,000 workers and produces more than 100,000 cars annually. More than 500 jobs, including 250 on the manufacturing line and another 250 in research and development, are to be cut through 2005.

GM announced last week that it expects to get rid of 12,000 jobs in Europe by the end of 2006 - most in Germany - to cut euro500 million (US$620 million) in costs annually at its money-losing Opel, Vauxhall and Saab operations. GM says it must reduce overheads to cope with sluggish consumer demand and increased competition from Japanese and other European carmakers.

Since General Motors acquired a stake in Saab Automobile AB in 1990, the automaker has posted profits just twice. GM bought Saab outright in 2000.

The company, based in Trollhaettan in southwestern Sweden, is part of the GM Europe division that lost US$549 million in 2002, hurt by sluggish demand, a costly launch of the 9-3 sedan and appreciation of the Swedish krona against the dollar.

Saab's plant in Trollhaettan is currently in a fierce fight for survival, after GM announced last month that the production of mid-sized cars in Europe, currently divided between Trollhaettan and the Opel factory in Ruesselsheim, Germany, should all be handled by the same plant.