With American automotive giant General Motors struggling to survive amid the worst car industry downturn since 1982, employees of the company's European subsidiary Opel laid down their tools on Thursday to take part in mass demonstrations in a last ditch effort to save their jobs.

Over 15,000 workers gathered at Opel's flagship factory in the western German industrial city of Rüsselsheim near Frankfurt with a total of 60,000 people joining protests at 14 Opel factories across Europe. "It is no longer five to midnight, the clock has already struck midnight," Klaus Franz, head of Opel's works council, told the gathered workers at Opel headquarters. "There is only one single chance, and that is spinning off Opel from the GM group."

Up to GM
Germany's Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier, who will be running against Chancellor Angela Merkel in general elections this September, also attended the Thursday protest, saying he was doing everything he could for Opel. "We all agree that it is up to GM management. GM has long earned good money with Opel. It would be obscene were they now to throw away European factories like a squeezed-out lemon."

In addition to protests in Germany, workers were set to walk out at Saab in Sweden, at the Vauxhall division in Britain and at other factories in Austria, France, Spain and Hungary. Dozens of demonstrators in Germany carried signs evoking Barack Obama's recent successful presidential campaign, reading "Yes We Can, Without GM."

GM Q4 losses
The protests come as GM announced losses in the fourth-quarter of 2008 of fully $9.6 billion (€7.5 billion), bringing the company's minus for the year to $30.9 billion. The Detroit-based giant has said it will cut 47,000 jobs worldwide with 26,000 of those coming outside the US. Company head Rick Wagoner is in talks with Washington about a much-needed capital injection and has also asked foreign governments for $6 billion to prop up its foreign operations.

Partially as a result of GM's troubles, Opel too has been haemorrhaging money, losing $1.9 billion in 2008. The company did, however, manage to sell a record number of cars in January as a result of a German measure aimed at stimulating car sales. The company employs 25,000 workers in Germany along with thousands more at factories in Britain, Belgium, Poland and Portugal.

Split
In Germany, many say that a split from its Detroit parent is the only thing that can save the carmaker. And, as became clear on Thursday, Opel workers are furious with GM for the predicament they currently find themselves in. "They built up overcapacity around the world without regard for losses," Berthold Huber, head of the union IG Metall, told protesters at Rüsselsheim. "And they have built models with the aerodynamics of a barn door and the weight of a small tank." He said that, given high fuel costs and growing unemployment, such cars are "as necessary as freezers at the North Pole."

Berlin is currently waiting for Opel and GM to present a plan to streamline the company, expected on Friday, before deciding how to proceed. Chancellor Merkel said on Thursday that her government would only help if the plan was sustainable. "Only then can we consider what kind of aid is necessary," she said.