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Opel Union Seeks to Reopen Talks at Doomed German Plant

The IG Metall union is pressing General Motors Co.'s Opel unit to restart contract talks at the assembly plant in Bochum, Germany, that the company says it will close late next year.
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The IG Metall union is pressing General Motors Co.'s Opel unit to restart contract talks at the assembly plant in Bochum, Germany, that the company says it will close late next year.

Opel declared on Thursday that it would not hold further negotiations after hourly workers at the factory rejected a tentative pact by a resounding 76:24 margin. The contract would have kept the Bochum facility open through 2016 and preserved the jobs of 1,200 employees there.

Steve Girsky, Opel chairman and GM vice chairman, says the earlier closing will cost GM more in the near term. But the move will benefit the company by shrinking excess capacity sooner, he adds.

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