Opel plant closure deals setback to labor talks

Opel's refusal to save its Bochum car plant from closure has dealt a setback to restructuring talks with its German labor force, trade union IG Metall said on Monday.

"We are further away from negotiating an agreement than before. A deal is scarcely possible before Christmas, probably," said a spokesman for the union's regional chapter in North Rhine-Westphalia, home to the Bochum site.

An IG Metall committee will meet in Frankfurt on Wednesday to discuss how to proceed following the announcement that management saw no alternative to its plans to end vehicle production in Bochum in 2016.

It would be the first time a German carmaker has closed a vehicle plant in decades.

(Reporting By Christiaan Hetzner)