Neil Hodgson and Alistair Houghton assess what General Motors’ bankruptcy will mean for its 2,200 Ellesmere Port staff
UNION leaders and Ellesmere Port’s MP say the town’s Vauxhall plant still has a bright future ahead despite the collapse of parent company General Motors.
GM has been under pressure for many months thanks to the slump in global car sales and finally filed for bankruptcy yesterday.
But its European arm, which includes Vauxhall and German sister brand Opel, is now separate from GM after car parts giant Magna agreed a memorandum of understanding to take it over.
Magna is expected to axe up to 10,000 of GM’s 50,000 jobs once it seals a deal, leaving Vauxhall’s 5,000 UK staff fearing for their futures.
Business Secretary Lord Mandelson says Magna bosses have already assured him Vauxhall production will continue in the UK. But he said they had given no details on any potential job cuts and said any decision on UK restructuring could be two months away.
Vauxhall employs 2,200 people in Ellesmere Port. The plant produces the popular Astra car and is preparing for the September launch of the new generation Astra which will see the return of a third production shift.
Ellesmere Port union convenor John Fetherstone says he and union colleagues from around Europe urgently want to question Magna about what its plans are for GM Europe.
He said: “We met with Magna last Tuesday and they gave an overview, saying they believed there needs to be a restructuring. But we didn’t get down to details.
“We had a conference call with all the other trade unions across the European plants yesterday and we are looking for a meeting between the manufacturing committee of the European Works Council and Magna, hopefully by the end of this week.
“We want to give Magna a grilling, but I am not sure we will get any answers.
“Magna have made it quite clear they had to do a lot more due diligence if they won the deal. They said they wanted to avoid plant closures, but didn’t rule it out.
“I don’t like to tempt fate, but we at Ellesmere Port are one of the most efficient Astra plants in Europe and we were successful in winning the bid for the new car, so that would suggest if Magna wanted this car, they want it here just like General Motors did.”
