Opel has confirmed it will shut its plant in Antwerp, Belgium.
The move is the first part of a restructuring of Opel and Vauxhall in order to reduce capacity, which will result in 8000 job losses. Closing the Antwerp plant will result in 2300 job losses.
“We fully understand the effect this announcement has on the Antwerp employees and their families and we sympathise with them,” said Opel CEO Nick Reilly. “Many have been dedicated to the plant over generations and have done an excellent job producing great quality cars.
"The decision to announce this today was not taken lightly; instead, it is the unfortunate result of the current business reality. We must make this announcement now so that we can secure a viable future for the entire Opel and Vauxhall operations.”
The closure of the plant is now subject to a consultation priod. Opel said in a statement that, if the closure is confirmed, production would conclude in the next few months.
Opel's statement added: "It is expected that the full restructuring plan, when completed, will affect all Opel/Vauxhall production sites and entities through measures such as capacity reductions, job redundancies and/or labour cost reductions."
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Re: Opel confirms Antwerp closure
Cart, there is a God after all.
Simple fact is, money losing plants are being closed, high cost labor will be cut for practical business reasons not some loony political conspiracy. Reilly is hiding nothing; he has stated from the outset that Antwerp would be closed, 4000 German jobs will be cut and the other 2000 will be split between Spain and the UK, sobering facts I know, but facts none the less.
Re: Opel confirms Antwerp closure
OK , so you don't like Obama , so would you prefer to have George w back ?
I think there are EU rules about countries bailing out their Auto Industries. These rules don't apply to bailing out banks , as banks don't make anything.
Re: Opel confirms Antwerp closure
Forget the internal politics at GM, the blunt reality is that European capacity was way over demand before the recession, never mind now. Difficult as it is in human terms the stark truth is that capacity needs to be cut or even more sites will suffer a long, lingering death.
The politics come in when they start deciding where to make the cuts. Belgium, like the UK, is easier to lay workforces off - Renault did it to huge popular anger in the early 90's. German labour laws make it prohibitively expensive to make redundancies.