After months of negotiations, on 3 November 2009 General Motors abandoned the plan to sell its European subsidiaries to the consortium composed of the Canadian-based automotive supplier Magna International and Russia’s Sberbank. At this point, the European Metalworkers’ Federation insists that General Motors should enter into talks with the European Works Council and the European trade unions without delay. The European subsidiaries of General Motors (GM) – Opel and Vauxhall with factories in Belgium, Germany, Poland, Spain and the United Kingdom (UK) – have been on the verge of financial collapse since GM declared bankruptcy in June 2009. After weeks of negotiations between various interested parties, including potential investors as well as the German government, in September the decision was made to sell Opel and Vauxhall to the consortium composed of the Canadian-Austrian car parts supplier Magna International and Russia’s Sberbank. However, on 3 November 2009, GM’s board of directors abandoned the results of these negotiations. It announced that, due to the importance of Opel and Vauxhall to GM’s global strategy, it had decided to retain its European subsidiaries and to initiate a restructuring of its European operations.