28 February 2013 Last updated at 10:32 ET

Union accepts Opel's restructuring plan

Opel's Bochum plant The Bochum plant will be closed in four years

German trade union IG Metall has agreed to Opel's plan to restructure its German operations.

The union accepts that Opel's Bochum factory will be closed at the end of 2016.

In return, General Motors' loss-making European subsidiary has agreed to guarantee the jobs of its 20,000 workers for four years.

"In principle this is the breakthrough," according to Opel works council chief Wolfgang Schaefer-Klug.

Details of the deal have yet to be hammered out.

Opel employs 3,300 people at the Bochum plant in the Ruhr valley, where it produces the Zafira model.

Opel first announced the plan to close the factory in December last year.

More on This Story

Global Car Industry

Related Internet links

The BBC is not responsible for the content of external Internet sites

More Business stories

RSS

Features & Analysis

Elsewhere on the BBC

Programmes

  • A Cyprus beachFast Track Watch

    How the dream of a home in the sun was turned into a nightmare by the Cyprus banking crisis

BBC © 2013 The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites. Read more.

This page is best viewed in an up-to-date web browser with style sheets (CSS) enabled. While you will be able to view the content of this page in your current browser, you will not be able to get the full visual experience. Please consider upgrading your browser software or enabling style sheets (CSS) if you are able to do so.