Thousands of workers employed by General Motors in Europe took to the streets Thursday to demonstrate against the giant US carmaker's sweeping restructuring plans and to save their jobs, according to dpa. The protests came as GM's German offshoot Opel prepared to unveil a rescue plan for the German operations and the government in Berlin stepped up its criticism of the US-based auto group amid a deepening crisis in the global car industry. German Economics Minister Karl-Theodor zu Guttenberg lashed out Thursday at the Detroit-based GM criticizing the company for failing to provide adequate information about its future plans for Opel, which has a corporate history dating back to the late 19th century. The German Economics Minister said up until now both potential investors and the German Government still did not know what the GM group planned for Opel, which is expected to unveil the new business plan possibly on Friday. This is the second time in the last five years that Opel has faced a major shakeout in its business with the company cutting 10,000 jobs in 2004 after GM launched another major overhaul of its global operations. Now only a few months after Washington lent GM and rival Chrysler 17.4 billion, GM is proposing another far-reaching restructuring plan, which includes big job cuts worldwide and could result in its hiving off parts of its international operations. In addition to Germany, GM has operations in Britain, Spain and Sweden. However, GM's Swedish SAAB company has already filed for bankruptcy protection. German carmakers including Volkswagen, BMW and Daimler, the manufacturer of luxury Mercedes-Benz cars have already cut production and placed employees on reduced working hours as they face up to the global economic slowdown.
