17/05/2006

Vauxhall to cut 900 jobs

Vauxhall has confirmed that it is to make 900 job cuts at its Ellesmere Port plant in Cheshire.

General Motors (GM) management said that greater productivity was needed from the plant after a meeting with union officials this morning.

Derek Simpson, General Secretary of Amicus, said: "This is another devastating blow to the car industry and UK manufacturing in general, coming after the news about MG Rover, Jaguar and Peugeot.

"Our priority now is to make sure that there are no compulsory redundancies made at the plant and we are committed to ensuring that the Astra replacement comes to Ellesmere Port to ensure a long term future for the people that are staying."

Amicus has blamed weak UK employment laws for the job losses. The UK plant, which it claims is the most productive of all GM’s European plants, looks set to have cutbacks ahead of the other European plants.

The union said that GM management had rejected joint European trade union proposals that job cuts should be made voluntarily across the European plants.

Workers at Vauxhall's Ellesmere Port factory in Cheshire had staged a brief unofficial walkout earlier this week.

The 900 job cuts will see almost a third of the plant's employees made redundant as GM trims back production of its Astra model in Europe.

GM's management are implementing a restructuring programme calling for around 30,000 job cuts worldwide.

(GB/SP)

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