BERLIN - General Motors Co.'s Opel unit says it has reached a deal with its employee council to keep car production at a troubled German plant going until the end of 2016.
A month ago, GM pressed for agreement in long-running negotiations by the end of February — warning if there was no deal, car production at the Bochum plant would end two years earlier than previously planned, at the beginning of 2015.
Opel said Thursday Bochum can keep producing cars until the current Zafira model is phased out at the end of 2016. Starting in the second quarter, it plans to cut one of three daily shifts there.
The company said it would offer severance packages and partial retirement programs to 700 employees.
About 3,000 people work at the Bochum factory.
