GM's Opel to cut 8,300 jobs in Europe, shuts Antwerp plant
By Aoife White |
January 22, 2010, Friday
|
Print Edition
Print Edition
GENERAL Motor Co's Opel unit will cut 8,300 jobs across Europe, including 4,000 in Germany, and close a plant in Antwerp, Belgium - casualties of the "tough reality" of a shrinking European auto market.
Opel head Nick Reilly said yesterday that the Antwerp plant had to go, with the loss of 2,606 jobs, because the company needs to shed 20 percent of its manufacturing capacity. That's because far fewer cars are being sold as a result of the recession.
"We have to take a plant out and unfortunately it's Antwerp," Reilly said at a press conference in Brussels. "It is the tough reality of the current business environment."
He said Antwerp would be the only Opel plant in Europe to shut down but warned that none of the company's German factories would escape "substantial" job cuts.
The company is still in talks with European governments - including Germany - about some 2.7 billion euros (US$3.8 billion) in state subsidies it wants as part of the 3.3 billion euros it plans to spend on restructuring. Reilly said GM is already contributing 600 million euros and may add more.
Berlin angered other European governments last year by offering a multibillion euro subsidy package for a potential buyer for Opel that was reportedly linked to promises to save jobs in Germany.
European Union regulators told the German government it could not give the company money to reduce jobs in one location and not another, ordering them to also offer any subsidies to other buyers - or for GM to keep the plant. That forced GM's hand and it dropped plans to sell Opel.
The Antwerp factory, founded in 1924, has already shrunk from employing 7,000 workers at its peak to around a third of that now. It produces the Astra three-door, convertible and station-wagon versions, almost all of them for delivery outside Belgium.
Reilly said GM had decided to shut down Antwerp by the middle of the year because the cars it makes can also be produced elsewhere and it would be too costly to shut another factory and shift its output to Belgium.
The Belgian government had tried to stave off the Antwerp plant's closure by earlier this year offering the company up to 500 million euros to upgrade the facilities.
Reilly said the economic crisis means European car markets will likely sell 1.5 million fewer cars this year than in 2009 and 4 million fewer than in 2007.
"We're pretty sure it's not going to go back to the kind of volumes we had in the past," he said. "We are losing money and we have to do something about it."
The GM cutbacks were a devastating blow for the 2,600 Opel workers in Antwerp and the automotive supply companies that employ 10,000 workers.
"Some cried, some said finally, at least we know what we are up against, what our future is going to be," Werner Dillen, a spokesman for the Opel Antwerp trade union, told Associated Press television.
But the news wasn't a total surprise as there has been speculation of Antwerp closing for several years.
Opel head Nick Reilly said yesterday that the Antwerp plant had to go, with the loss of 2,606 jobs, because the company needs to shed 20 percent of its manufacturing capacity. That's because far fewer cars are being sold as a result of the recession.
"We have to take a plant out and unfortunately it's Antwerp," Reilly said at a press conference in Brussels. "It is the tough reality of the current business environment."
He said Antwerp would be the only Opel plant in Europe to shut down but warned that none of the company's German factories would escape "substantial" job cuts.
The company is still in talks with European governments - including Germany - about some 2.7 billion euros (US$3.8 billion) in state subsidies it wants as part of the 3.3 billion euros it plans to spend on restructuring. Reilly said GM is already contributing 600 million euros and may add more.
Berlin angered other European governments last year by offering a multibillion euro subsidy package for a potential buyer for Opel that was reportedly linked to promises to save jobs in Germany.
European Union regulators told the German government it could not give the company money to reduce jobs in one location and not another, ordering them to also offer any subsidies to other buyers - or for GM to keep the plant. That forced GM's hand and it dropped plans to sell Opel.
The Antwerp factory, founded in 1924, has already shrunk from employing 7,000 workers at its peak to around a third of that now. It produces the Astra three-door, convertible and station-wagon versions, almost all of them for delivery outside Belgium.
Reilly said GM had decided to shut down Antwerp by the middle of the year because the cars it makes can also be produced elsewhere and it would be too costly to shut another factory and shift its output to Belgium.
The Belgian government had tried to stave off the Antwerp plant's closure by earlier this year offering the company up to 500 million euros to upgrade the facilities.
Reilly said the economic crisis means European car markets will likely sell 1.5 million fewer cars this year than in 2009 and 4 million fewer than in 2007.
"We're pretty sure it's not going to go back to the kind of volumes we had in the past," he said. "We are losing money and we have to do something about it."
The GM cutbacks were a devastating blow for the 2,600 Opel workers in Antwerp and the automotive supply companies that employ 10,000 workers.
"Some cried, some said finally, at least we know what we are up against, what our future is going to be," Werner Dillen, a spokesman for the Opel Antwerp trade union, told Associated Press television.
But the news wasn't a total surprise as there has been speculation of Antwerp closing for several years.
- About Us
- |
- Terms of Use
- |
-
RSS - |
- Privacy Policy
- |
- Contact Us
- |
- Shanghai Call Center: 962288
- |
- Tip-off hotline: 52920043
- 沪ICP证：沪ICP备05050403号-1
- |
- 互联网新闻信息服务许可证：31120180004
- |
- 网络视听许可证：0909346
- |
- 广播电视节目制作许可证：沪字第354号
- |
- 增值电信业务经营许可证：沪B2-20120012
Copyright © 1999- Shanghai Daily. All rights reserved.Preferably viewed with Internet Explorer 8 or newer browsers.
