Opel Unions See Autonomy as Condition to Talks

FRANKFURT (Reuters) - Opel's top German labor leader said on Sunday he was willing to hold negotiations over a restructuring of the European carmaker under its parent General Motors so long as it gains greater independence.

Klaus Franz was shocked last week when GM's board abruptly dropped plans to sell a 55 percent stake in Opel to auto parts maker Magna and its Russian bank partner Sberbank .

"GM does not enjoy any credibility or faith in the eyes of the public or the (German) government, so they have to consider whether they now want to seek confrontation or cooperation by finding a common solution," Franz told Reuters on Sunday.

"To see whether they are interested in cooperation, we need to know whether they are willing to start off where we last stopped -- namely, the degree of autonomy and freedom that was set in the contract with Magna and accepted by General Motors," he said.

He said this was a clear condition for any talks. GM's chief executive, Fritz Henderson, is due to travel to Opel's headquarters in Ruesselsheim this week and is expected to discuss the decision with local management on Monday.

Separately, the German Economy Ministry struck a skeptical tone over GM's chances of getting the kind of aid the German government was prepared to offer Magna for its Opel bid.

Following the sudden decision last week to drop the sale management scared unions by threatening Opel's bankruptcy and its German boss Carl-Peter Forster left the company after attacking the board's decision.

A newspaper report said on Sunday that Forster, a former BMW executive and son of a German diplomat who grew up in London, is now slated to take over as head of Indian group Tata Motors' British carmaker Jaguar Land Rover [ID:nL0268202]

Briton Nick Reilly, currently head of GM's international operations, is now set to lead the reorganization of Opel, a person briefed on the plan told Reuters on Friday, with GM's global marketing chief Bob Lutz to be Opel's new chairman.