Opel Antwerp thus became the latest in a series of hot spots of industrial relations in Belgium, including the fire department and prison services. (To even the balance somewhat, workers at AB InBev in Leuven were asked to dismantle their picket line after the company withdrew plans to cut 260 jobs.) Last Friday, 22 January, Flemish minister-president Kris Peeters held talks with Antwerp mayor Patrick Janssens and the province’s governor Cathy Berx to appraise them of the situation. He also briefed the “social partners”: trade unions, employers’ organisations Voka and Unizo and even the Farmers' Union, not normally included in such meetings.

GM has been careful to speak only of the “possible” closure of the plant. That is because the Renault law obliges them, in the first instance, to seek all possible alternatives to closure. “All alternatives must be examined and discussed. That’s just the law,” Peeters said. The procedure could take months. GM has made it clear it is not interested in keeping Antwerp open as a parts centre. And CEO Nick Reilly expressed his wish, Renault law or no, to close the gates for the last time by the end of June this year.

Quite what the alternatives for Antwerp might be is anyone’s guess. Particularly in the current economic climate, ideas for soaking up more than 2,000 newly unemployed are not likely to be abundant. “When Renault closed [in 1997] it was still relatively easy to find a job,” explained Peter Leyman, managing director of Voka, who used to be the chief executive of Volvo Ghent. “Today, that’ll be a lot harder. Nonetheless, we’re sitting here with an enormous pool of talent that absolutely mustn’t be lost.”

The blow to employment at Antwerp is, however, a drop in the ocean compared to what’s going on across the country. “We estimate that this year 60,000 jobs will be lost,” Leyman said. According to one economist, Geert Noels, the chemical industry could be the next to be hard hit. Writing in Het Nieuwsblad, Noels blames the loss of Opel Antwerp not to competition from the Far East, but to competition from Germany. Belgium’s high employment costs – only Norway is higher, according to 2007 figures – make the country unattractive for industry. Germany started working on its competitiveness and industrial policy in 2000 until it overtook Belgium in terms of attraction to industry – with the results that were seen last week.

Opel Antwerp from start to finish

•1863 Adam Opel starts the company of the same name in Rüsselsheim, Germany, making household goods, including sewing machines and bicycles

•1899 Opel makes its first cars

•1924 The American auto manufacturer General Motors (GM), founded in 1908, sets up in Antwerp, producing 2,040 cars in its first year

•1929 GM acquires 80% of Opel, increasing to 100% in 1931. The plant moves to the harbour area, where it suffers severe damage from bombing during the Second World War

•1950 Construction begins on a new plant on the Noorderlaan (where it still stands today)

•1953 the first cars roll off the assembly line, including Opels and Vauxhalls

•1971 Production at the two Opel plants in Antwerp hits 500,000 for the first time

•1974 The oil crisis depresses demand for cars, and Opel Antwerp cuts more than one-quarter of its production days

•1981 Employment peaks at 12,600

•1988 Production is consolidated into one plant, thanks to productivity increases

•1991 Opel launches the new Astra and Vectra models, to be produced in Antwerp

•1996 10,000,000th Opel car comes off the line

•1998 The Vectra moves out of Antwerp, which instead takes over all Astra three- and five-door models, as well as the estate version

•2004 Under restructuring launched in 2001, employment at Opel Antwerp has dropped to 5,000

•2007 The successor to the Astra will not be built in Antwerp, the company decides. Half of all jobs, 2,300 in all, are lost

•2008 GM asks for a bail-out from the US government and gets it

•2009 Ten thousand jobs are lost in the US, and GM seeks Chapter 11 protection. In July, three bidders express an interest in taking over GM’s Opel Europe activities. In September, GM favours the Magna offer, but in November the company changes its mind

•2010 GM announces the closure of the Antwerp plant after 86 years of operations in the city