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Opel Antwerp's Future Still Uncertain

Workers continue the protests against Magna's decision to cut thousands of jobs and even close the doors of some plants across Europe. The Antwerp plant is a special case as employees in several countries travelled to Belgium to support their local colleagues and convince the Canadian - Austrian partsmaker that closing a factory isn't a viable solution.

We already talked about the way the workers demonstrated against Magna's prepared cost-cutting measures but the future of the Anwtwerp plant is still uncertain, at least until the involved parties reach an agreement.

But the deputy head of GM Europe's works council Rudi Kennes told the Financial Times Deutschland that GM and Magna haven't said a thing about a potential closure, so nobody knows for sure whether this is indeed an option.

"We have not been told that Antwerp will be closed,"
he said. "Magna has not said that the Antwerp factory is going to close," Rudi Kennes of Belgium's FGTB trade union told German HR-Info radio.

Meanwhile, Opel's workers are ready to fight to keep the plant open. "If we don't fight today for the future of Antwerp, it will be the same thing at another plant tomorrow," Peter Scherrer, German head of the European metalworkers federation (FEM), told AFP.

A plant closure is unacceptable, Opel's workers are saying, so Magna and GM might be forced to look for alternative cost cutting solutions. "We will never accept the closure of a production centre, nor lay-offs without a social plan," Belgian trade union official Walter Cnop told the protesters. "Production must be shared out fairly," he added.
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About the author: Bogdan Popa
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Bogdan keeps an eye on how technology is taking over the car world. His long-term goals are buying an 18-wheeler because he needs more space for his kid’s toys, and convincing Google and Apple that Android Auto and CarPlay deserve at least as much attention as their phones.
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