GM Boss: US Aid Can Be Used to Fix Opel If Needed

FILE - In this Nov. 4, 2009 file photo, raindrops are seen on an Opel logo, at an Opel dealer in...

FILE - In this Nov. 4, 2009 file photo, raindrops are seen on an Opel logo, at an Opel dealer in Hamburg, northern Germany. General Motors Co. could tap some of the $50 billion in aid it has received from the U.S. government to help finance its plan to restructure its European Opel unit, GM's top executive said Thursday, Nov. 5.(AP Photo/Axel Heimken,, file)

(AP)

General Motors Co.'s top executive said Thursday that the automaker could tap some of its $50 billion in U.S. government aid to help restructure GM's European Opel unit. The statement came as thousands of Opel workers walked off their jobs across Germany in protest of GM's decision to abandon the unit's sale to new owners.

CEO Fritz Henderson said GM would use U.S. government money for Opel only if necessary, and it would try to finance the $4.5 billion (3 billion euros) restructuring with loans from European countries, money generated by Opel and by reducing royalties that Opel pays GM for use of technology.

Henderson's statements come two days after GM's board shocked German leaders and labor unions by rejecting a plan to sell 55 percent of Opel to a partnership of Canadian auto parts supplier Magna International Inc. and Russian lender Sperbank.

The move angered German and Russian politicians as well as labor leaders, who had expected the Magna deal to go through. German workers left their jobs en masse, fearing widespread layoffs as GM tries to shrink Opel's manufacturing operations to match demand for its vehicles.

Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin asserted that GM had exhibited an "arrogant attitude" in abandoning months of negotiations. German Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle, visiting Washington, said that "jobs must be protected."

Workers at Opel's headquarters in Ruesselsheim vented their anger at a rally. One group carried a black coffin with the GM and Opel logos; others held placards such as "GM get lost" and "Hands off Opel."

At GM's headquarters in Detroit Thursday, Henderson told reporters the company has a lot of work ahead in repairing its relations with German labor.

Unions and employees had offered cost-cutting concessions to ease a Magna deal, such as forgoing pay increases, but those offers are now off the table.

GM will face a new battle to secure concessions for its own restructuring plan — and has raised the prospect of a bankruptcy if it is blocked.