Vauxhall — now owned by France’s PSA Group (which makes Peugeot and Citroen vehicles) — is cutting another 250 jobs at its Ellesmere Port car plant, on top of the 400 it announced in October, saying it needs to “accelerate the recovery of plant productivity”.
The plant in Cheshire, which makes the Astra, is to move staff from two production shifts to one.
Earlier this month, Vauxhall (
www.vauxhall.co.uk) told the Unite union that more voluntary redundancies were needed, saying it would conduct a statutory 45-day workforce consultation, and that it was committed to minimising the impact of the proposed reductions.
The company also said it was committed to the Astra plant continuing at Ellesmere Port, although PSA has previously said that manufacturing costs at Ellesmere were higher than other “benchmark plants” in the group.
Vauxhall employs about 4,500 people in the UK, with about 1,800 at Ellesmere Port. The company also has a van-making factory in Luton.
A Vauxhall spokesman said: “At a meeting held on Thursday 4 January between representatives from Vauxhall Motors and Unite, the company explained that although the initial voluntary separation programme at its Ellesmere Port plant announced in October — aligned to adjustment of production volumes in order to protect its future — has been successful, it needs to initiate a further voluntary redundancy programme for another 250 employees in the period from April to the end of September.
“The teams are conscious of the need to accelerate the recovery of plant productivity in order to meet the challenges ahead; as an important element of this recovery, this additional separation programme will support the planned move to a single production shift at Ellesmere Port in April . . . Vauxhall management affirmed the company’s continued commitment to the Astra plant at Ellesmere Port, and the company remains confident that the Ellesmere Port workforce has the ability to deliver the necessary improvements in financial performance.”