General Motors faces a one-day strike at its European plants tomorrow in protest at production cuts by the US carmaker.
The company's European labour representatives called for a day of action as part of efforts to press for a deal on GM's factory in Antwerp.
GM, which owns the Opel, Chevrolet and Saab brands among others, last week announced plans to shed 1,400 jobs - a third of the workforce - at its Belgian site as it reduces manufacturing of the best-selling Astra model.
Employees at the Antwerp plant are on a week-long strike over the decision. The job losses were another blow for the Belgian car-assembly industry after Volkswagen announced cutbacks at its Brussels factory in November.
GM this week confirmed that it could produce up to 80,000 cars of one model annually in Antwerp after it cuts production of the Astra vehicle.
However, the company's European labour representatives yesterday branded GM's offer "absolutely insufficient" and said that the Antwerp plant should make at least two models. GM would not say which model it might build in Antwerp. However, industry sources believe that the likeliest candidate would be a model produced by Chevrolet, its value brand, for which GM is developing a new low-cost car.
Like other carmakers, GM is required to go through a consultation period before making decisions on jobs at the Antwerp plant. This law was instated after Renault, the French group, abruptly closed a car factory near Brussels in 1997, with the loss of 3,000 jobs.
Meanwhile GM chief executive Rick Wagoner has voluntarily cut a quarter of his base salary to support the firm's turnaround plans. As of March 1st, Wagoner's base salary was €1.2 million ($1.65 million), down from €1.6 million in January 2006. GM chief financial officer Fritz Henderson and product chief Bob Lutz also took pay cuts of 15 per cent each, bringing their base salaries to €950,000 each.
The company, which has lost nearly €9 billion in the last two years, is in the middle of a sweeping restructuring that includes slashing more than 34,000 jobs and closing 12 plants.