Vauxhall confirms 900 job cuts
Vauxhall confirms 900 job cuts
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Age: 29
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In his own words: It's all or nothing, but that's what we've been expecting all along. |  |
Wednesday, 17, May 2006 04:57
Vauxhall has confirmed it is to cut 900 jobs at its factory at Ellesmere Port, Cheshire.
The announcement came earlier this morning after officials from the car manufacturer's owners, General Motors, met with union leaders in a meeting attended by chancellor Gordon Brown.
In future the factory will cut down operations from three shifts to only two shifts every day, it said, blaming "ongoing pressure" on the car industry for the cutbacks.
"The company's plan is to offer a voluntary package that allows us to avoid forced redundancies," said Jon Browning, Vauxhall's chairman.
"For the people at Ellesmere Port, this is by no means indicative of a lack of progress made locally over the past several years."
But Derek Simpson, general secretary of Amicus, responded by saying that "this is another devastating blow to the car industry and UK manufacturing in general".
Production at the factory was temporarily halted last week when staff at the car plant staged a walkout after the company confirmed it was considering the job cuts in order to boost productivity.
The announcement of redundancies at the Ellesmere Port plant represents a further blow to the sector, following last month's decision by French carmaker PSA Peugeot Citroen to cease production at its Midlands factory and last year’s collapse of the British vehicle manufacturer MG Rover.
Meanwhile GM has announced job cuts in the US amounting to over 30,000 redundancies as the US-based company continues to struggle with rising costs and weak demand for its cars.