Carmaker Adam Opel AG stands to become the latest battleground in the German automobile industry over wage and benefits rollbacks, with the company aiming to get workers back to a 40-hour week at no extra pay, it was reported Friday. The mass-circulation tabloid Bild said the 40-hour week is one item in a list of cost-saving measures outlined in an internal paper which the company management has presented to the workers' council. A company spokesman confirmed the list of cost-savings proposals which had been presented to workers on August 24, but declined to comment on the contents, saying the company and workers would discuss the questions internally. "This is a catalogue for discussion which does not make any valuation," the spokesman said about the various cost-savings points on the list. According to a copy of the internal paper obtained by Bild, the list poses a 40-hour week, as against the current 30 to 38-hour week for Opel employees, at no extra pay. It also said that the list calls for employees at Opel plants in Ruesselsheim, Bochum and Kaisterslautern to receive no wage hikes until 2009. --more 1444 Local Time 1144 GMT
