German Opel workers bitter after GM shock

PARIS (Reuters) - Bitterness, anger and disbelief mixed with betrayal and even resignation are just some of the emotions boiling within Germany following Tuesday's shocking news that General Motors will scrap its sale of Opel.

After months of protracted negotiations with a consortium led by Canadian auto parts maker Magna that finally led to GM approving a sale on September 10 backed heavily by unions, the carmaker's board of directors reversed course and voted now simply to restructure Opel "in earnest" itself.

GM confirmed the decision made by its 13-member board after a meeting of directors on Tuesday in Detroit, saying that improving business conditions and the strategic importance of Opel to its operations had prompted the move.

Opel's labor leaders have agreed to contribute 265 million euros ($388 million) in annual savings as part of a much-needed restructuring plan, but made that contingent on a sale to Magna.

"Unfortunately my suspicion seems to been confirmed that the decision to sell Opel to Magna was connected with the elections later that month in Germany," Opel's senior labor leader in Bochum, Rainer Einenkel, told Reuters.

Chancellor Angela Merkel and key allies in her conservative party lobbied heavily in Magna's favor ahead of the parliamentary elections on September 27, thinly veiling a threat that no German aid would flow should any other decision be taken.

Another Opel worker representative cursed when hearing the news and called GM's reversal a "challenge to fight," only to then add that there was a feeling among colleagues "the most favorable moment was already behind us and the danger grew with each day that passed" that the sale to Magna could collapse.

Those working at European plants on GM's endangered list like the Belgian site in Antwerp have long sniffed conspiracy ever since it first signed a letter of intent back at the end of May, suggesting Detroit was just using Magna to get an emergency taxpayer loan for Opel.

Although shocked by GM's decision, a union source conceded that somehow GM and Opel will have sit down and work out a restructuring plan that labor believes could cost alone in Germany the closures of plants in Bochum, Eisenach and even Kaiserslautern.