General Motors revealed on Thursday its Opel subsidiary is to shut its assembly plant in Antwerp, Belgium. The announcement comes amid extensive restructuring by GM, which lost $88 billion dollars between 2005 and 2008.

Opel CEO Nick Reilly issued a statement saying the closure is part of "the tough reality of the current business environment...Opel has to reduce its production capacity by 20 percent."

General Motors had originally planned to sell German subsidiary Opel to a consortium led by Canadian parts maker Magna. But in November, it canceled the deal, and said it would keep Opel while carrying out a dramatic restructuring.

The closure is the most recent blow to an industry battered by competition from Asia and an economic downturn. This year, manufacturers expect to sell 1.5 million fewer cars than they did in 2009, and 4 million fewer than they did during the industry's high point in 2007.

An unnamed union official quoted by Reuters indicated that the plant would possibly close by the end of June, while Opel's official statement said it planned to close it "in the course of the year 2010."

War on workers

German trade union IG Metall called the closure of the Antwerp site a "declaration of war" against all Opel workers. IG Metall board member Armin Schild said that a plan had existed that would have ensured that no plants would have had to be closed.

But Schild said that the business concept that was being presented now "is neither being financed nor offers employees a chance to contribute." He warned that to save Opel, the company management would need the workers on its side.

"To take away the right of thousands of workers to make a living in such a shameful way after they have worked well, hard and faithfully for years is absolutely criminal," Belgium's ACV trade union said in a press release.

The Antwerp assembly, which currently employs around 2,500 people, is the first major auto plant closure in Europe since Peugeot and Opel closed factories in Britain and Portugal, respectively.

svs/bk/dpa/AP/Reuters/AFP
Editor: Rob Turner