dagwood55: And, as long as GM was making money (or could pretend they were), Opel’s employees were perfectly happy with the relationship and the sharing of intellectual property. I’ll bet many were very proud to be GM’s worldwide center for some platforms.
What has changed is that they’re now working for a (rapidly and radically?) downsizing GM and they felt they had better job security with Magna as owner. I can’t say I necessariliy agree with their assessment but I do understand the difference it makes. And it was a surprise and shock.

I would love to believe that that’s all there is to it. I don’t blame Opel workers for being upset about the situation. I don’t even blame them for not being happy with GM. Or blaming them for bad management.

But I do think there’s some anti-americanism there that plays into this. HyperMiler may be extreme, but I’ve heard the engineering complaints before. (I tried to find it again, but there are a million articles to wade through..) Opel workers have been unhappy with GM for quite a while. I’ve read complaints ranging from mismanagement. To locating the headquarters of GM Europe in Zurich.

I wasn’t serious about not visiting Germany, by the way. It would be a little bit late for that anyway. I’ve already been there twice. Most of the people there are very nice. At least they were to me…

No, I didn’t catch HyperMiler’s comments. They’re rarely worth reading.

He was defending Daimler? I rest my case.

In any event (trusing your summaries), the ownership of Opel’s intellectual capital would be an interesting question. Opel is certainly using GM-US designs and patents and GM-Daewoo designs and patents. This has nothing to do with whether or not GM-US can engineer a car without Opel’s help… clearly they can. This has to do with logistics, sourcing, talent pooling, leverage and market share. Is GM better off having a wholly-owned European subsidiary? Probably.

And, as long as GM was making money (or could pretend they were), Opel’s employees were perfectly happy with the relationship and the sharing of intellectual property. I’ll bet many were very proud to be GM’s worldwide center for some platforms.

What has changed is that they’re now working for a (rapidly and radically?) downsizing GM and they felt they had better job security with Magna as owner. I can’t say I necessariliy agree with their assessment but I do understand the difference it makes. And it was a surprise and shock.

LauraM: I think Opel workers are hoping that if they cost GM enough money, GM will give in and sell the company.

#142

Or, if they cost GM enough money, GM might liquidate the comapny and they’re all out of a job. I was thinking that GM might just GIVE Opel to the German government and the autoworkers union. See how they do with it.

I forgot to add–and it was too late to edit–did you catch Hypermiler’s defense of Daimler for the Chrysler fiasco? Apparently Daimler was the one wronged because Daimler provided the engineering. Yeah. Because they fired all the American engineers who made Chrysler successful before they came along!

dagwood55: German autoworkers were expecting Magna to take over and they were expecting better job protection than they’re going to get from GM. They felt Magna had a better commitment to keeping German operations going.
Combined with the shock and surprise, a strike is not unexpected.

Did you see HyperMiler’s posts at #96 and 106?

HyperMiler: If GM cannot engineer its own cars with American engineering talent, maybe it doesn’t deserve to stay in automotive business.

HyperMiler: If you are a German government official, why should you bail out Opel so that GM could fire 10,000 German workers and continue to make a fat profit off Opel engineering around the world, namely in China?

HyperMiler: Opel’s work would be 100% owned by Opel once GM’s gone. This is what Germans want, for Opel engineering to benefit Germans, not Americans.

How would you interpret his comments?