Opel's Antwerp plant to close, trade union says

General Motors plans to close Opel's Belgian plant with the loss of more than 2,300 jobs, a German trade union official said Thursday, as workers blockaded the factory parking lot in protest.

Franco Biagiotti, the head of the employee council at the German Bochum plant, told the DAPD press agency that the head of Adam Opel GmbH, Nick Reilly, had said this week that the Antwerp plant would close.

Opel had no comment on speculation that it would announce the closure later Thursday.

Workers in Antwerp occupied the factory's parking lot in protest at the possible job losses, telling reporters that cars would be "kept hostage."

Local press reports say the plant's management will hold a meeting Thursday to discuss the future of the factory.

The fate of the Antwerp plant has been uncertain for some time. When General Motors Co. planned to sell its European car making unit to Canada's Magna and Russia's Sberbank last year, the bidders said they would close it down. GM later decided against selling its European business.

German daily Welt reported Thursday that most of Antwerp's Astra production is to be transferred to the plant in Bochum, citing anonymous sources from the worker council.

Opel said in 2007 that it would stop making the Astra at Antwerp and would possibly replace it with midsize Chevrolet models or sports utility vehicles -- heavier cars that now find few buyers as cash-for-clunkers programs and cash-strapped customers favor more fuel-efficient cars.

Belgium's De Standaard newspaper said GM would lay out details of restructuring for all European factories at a Jan. 28 meeting with unions.

The Belgian government has tried to stave off the Antwerp plant's closure by earlier this year offering the company up to euro500 million ($707 million) to upgrade the facilities.