22 January, 2010Workers take action to try and secure jobs after GM announces closure of Opel plant in Antwerp, Belgium
BELGIUM: On January 21, 2010 the European Opel management announced its intention to wind-down production at its plant located in the port of Antwerp.
For Belgian trade unions this is a "shot in the neck" of the 2,600 workers at the Antwerp plant and a "slap in the face" for the thousands of workers in the supply chain at companies such as Johnson Controls, Plastic Omniun, Continental and Belplas.
"Industry and the automobile industry in particular do not need to be treated with such arrogance by the current GM management. Stealing away the right to an income of thousands of workers in such a disgusting way, especially after all their efforts and endeavours over the years to produce top quality, is simply a crime," said Guido Nelissen, economic advisor of Belgian trade union ACV-CSC METEA.
After having decided to phase out production of the Opel Astra, GM signed an agreement with trade unions to replace the Astra by two small SUV's at the Antwerp plant. The company brutally broke this written agreement. For trade unions in Belgium, this decision is inspired by mere political considerations which have no economic grounds whatsoever.
On September 23, 2009 all local and European trade unions announced that they would not accept any plant closures nor imposed lay-offs and that they counted on a fair distribution of available production.
After GM halted its advanced negotiations with Canadian Magna for a take-over of Opel, it announced 8,300 redundancies in its European plants. In addition to Belgium, GM has plants in the UK, Spain, Sweden, Germany, Poland, Austria and Hungary. However workers' representatives never had a chance to see a real plan for the future for Opel Europe. So the announced shutdown of Opel Antwerp, is viewed as just a step in a large but hidden European restructuring plan.
Previously Saab, the Swedish subsidiary of GM, went into bankruptcy protection. After failed negotiations with investors such as Koeningsegg and Spyker, the future of 3,400 workers in Trollhättan remains very uncertain.
The Belgian trade unions have already started a spontaneous blockade of the parking sites of their plant, so no new car can leave the factory. This 'war chest' should help to increase the pressure on the management in order to secure an industrial future for a highly productive facility. Other actions are in preparation.
According to the so-called 'Renault-law', approved in the Belgian Parliament after the closure of the Renault Vilvoorde plant in 1997, management can only decide to make people redundant after respecting an information and consultation period, whereby the workers' representatives can introduce alternatives to the proposed redundancies. The Belgian trade unions will make full use of this possibility to convince GM to maintain production in Antwerp.
On Thursday January 26, 2010 a European solidarity meeting will be organised at the Antwerp site and on Friday January 29, the Belgian trade unions will hold a country-wide march for jobs in Brussels.