Workers blockade Opel’s Antwerp car plant to protest possible factory closure

Trade union official: Opel Antwerp will close

BRUSSELS — A German trade union official says General Motors Corp. plans to close Opel’s Belgian plant, with the loss of more than 2,300 jobs.

Franco Biagiotti, the head of the Bochum work council, told the DAPD press agency that Opel’s head Nick Reilly had said this week that the plant would close.

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

Workers at Antwerp have blockaded the factory’s parking lot in protest at the job losses.