Antwerp plant misses out on new GM model

General Motors (GM) last month announced plans to share production of a replacement for the Astra small car between all the existing Astra sites in Europe, with the exception of its plant in Antwerp, Belgium.

In 2005 GM's European works council (EWC) set up a joint European working group, involving unions from all five countries producing the Astra, to avoid sites being played off against each other.

After discussions, both the EWC and GM agreed that four plants would get the work, Ellesmere Port (UK),see page five, Bochum (Germany), TrollhŠttan (Sweden) and Gliwice (Poland).

This decision, announced on 17 April, produced bitterness in Antwerp. There will also be 1,750 job losses at Bochum and 1,400 at TrollhŠttan.

The EWC's aim was to avoid plant closures. Klaus Franz, chair of the EWC, said in March that "a closure would mean war" and this has been achieved as Antwerp stays open. However, its future remains uncertain without the Astra replacement. GM has already said it wants to cut 1,400 out of the 4,500 jobs there by the summer.

The Belgian unions fear that their interests have been sacrificed. Luc Cortebeeck, president of the largest union confederation the CSC, said the "disappointment was enormous". He also deplored the fact that national interests - Vauxhall in the UK, Saab in Sweden and Opel in Germany - seem to have played a role.