Against a background of the worst February European car sales for the industry in over 23 years, Opel is to close down its Bochum factory, in Germany, where the Zafira Tourer MPV is built. The plant’s employees turned down a deal that would have saved the 1,200 jobs.

Three other General Motors’s plants in Germany had previously approved an agreement that guarantees 20,000 German jobs  in exchange for a wage freeze until 2015.

GM may convert the plant into a components factory and a larger warehouse center, which would save some jobs.

Under pressure GM Europe, including Opel and Vauxhall, has lost approximately €14 billion since 1999, with about €1.4 billion of a loss last year. GM Europe is trying to return to a break-even situation by 2015. It plans to achieve this by cutting costs and it hopes to boost sales by launching as many as 23 new or updated Opel models between now and 2016.

Ford to pay $750 million severance Belgian workers
Meanwhile, following Ford’s announcement in late October that it would close three European plants, two in the UK and one in Genk, in Belgium. The worker at the Belgian plant will get $750 million in severance pay. It works out at an average of about €145,000 for each hourly worker, while salaried workers are still in negotiations with Ford for their payouts.

The deal will allows Ford to close that factory by the end of next year, move equipment to Spain where the delayed next generation Mondeo will be built. The S-Max and Galaxy MPV production will also be moved from Belgium.

Labour law is very strong in Belgium. Back in 2012, GM paid out an average of over €157,000 (at today’s rates) per-worker severance payment to close its factory in Antwerp. Overall, that 2,600 people plant closure cost GM €409 million at today’s rates.

Ford of Europe suffered similar losses last year to GM Europe.