BLOOMINGTON — The GE refrigerator plant in Bloomington will close by the end of 2009.

The plant employs about 900 people, and GE has said about 60 percent will retire with benefits.

GE announced in January that it intended to close the plant, which builds side-by-side refrigerators. It allowed time for the union to come up with ideas for keeping the plant open.

Employees were notified that GE had rejected the cost-cutting proposals on Monday, the day they returned from a two-week vacation scheduled because of low product demand.

GE said the factory had losses of about $45 million last year and expected similar losses this year. Officials cited declining sales of side-by-side refrigerators and rising costs of materials and labor.