Some 1,000 workers from the NedCar plant registered on Friday morning to go on official strike at a trade union action point in Geleen in the south of the Netherlands. Mitsubishi announced in Tokyo on Monday that it was planning to halt all automobile production in Europe by the end of 2012.

The Queen’s commissioner for the southern province of Limburg where Geleen is situated, Theo Bovens, and Labour Party leader Job Cohen were in Geleen to address the workers.

March for jobs
The FNV trade union confederation is calling for a strike next week. The FNV is considering holding a march to The Hague on the day the fate of the Limburg car manufacturer will be discussed in parliament.

"We want a maximum effort to be made for the employees, like having a good severance deal," said Carolien Weber, spokeswoman for one of the FNV unions, which claims to represent between 800 to 900 NedCar workers.

The Colt subcompact and the Outlander sports utility cars are produced at the plant which is wholly owned by Mitsubishi. Output at NedCar, which was established in 1991, has remained well below its production capacity of 200,000 units a year, contributing to Mitsubishi Motors' operating loss in Europe, reports say.

(jn/mw)

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