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Opel to Close Bochum Plant in Germany
General Motors Co.'s ailing Adam Opel unit says it plans to shutter an assembly plant in Bochum, Germany, after 2016 to cut excess capacity in Europe as part of a broader restructuring.
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General Motors Co.'s ailing Adam Opel unit says it plans to shutter an assembly plant in Bochum, Germany, after 2016 to cut excess capacity in Europe as part of a broader restructuring.
The Bochum facility would be the first a major German auto factory closing since World War II. Opel closed a smaller plant in Antwerp, Belgium, two years ago.
Opel announced the fate of Bochum and its 3,300 workers in a joint statement with its German labor leaders. Analysts opine that may signal that the two parties are close to an agreement on the turnaround plan. The company says it is still seeking workers' agreement to postpone the 4% annual pay raise that the IG Metall union negotiated last month with German manufacturers.
In exchange, Opel says it would extend by two years the no-layoff pledge in its current labor contract, which protects jobs through the end of 2014. The company already has agreed to keep the Bochum facility open two years longer than expected until the current-generation Zafira Tourer MPV it builds is scheduled to go out of production.
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