IG Metall member employees at the Opel Bochum plant in Germany have voted against a labour agreement that would have kept the plant operational as a components producer when vehicle production finishes next year. Opel says the plant will now close when Zafira Tourer production ends in 2014.
“We very much regret that the employees in Bochum did not accept an attractive offer,” said Manfred Gellrich, Director of the Opel plant in Bochum. “A huge opportunity has now been missed.”
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Opel said that no further negotiations on the proposed labour agreement will take place. The production of the Zafira Tourer and the exclusion of compulsory separations will run out by the end of 2014.
Acceptance of Opel’s offer would have meant the conversion of the Bochum location to a components plant and the expansion of the warehouse centre. This would have secured at least 1,200 tariff-bound Opel jobs in Bochum in the long-term, Opel said.
Opel also said in a statement that the development agency “Bochum Perspektive 2022”, in which Opel is making both financial and personnel investments, is unaffected. The goal of this initiative is to settle new companies and technologies in Bochum and the region, Opel said.
Union workers at GM’s Dudenhofen, Russelsheim and Kaiserslauten plants have voted with large majorities in favour of GM’s reorganisation plan.
See also: GERMANY: IG Metall waits on Bochum for plants deal
