Vauxhall to cut hundreds of jobs at the Ellesmere Port plant in Cheshire – is this the beginning of the end for the British car maker in the UK?
In its most recent wave of job losses, Vauxhall is making 241 workers redundant
VAUXHALL has cut 241 further jobs at its Ellesmere Port plant, in a move labelled as "death by a thousand cuts" by the workers' trade union.
The restructuring is an efficiency measure at the Cheshire site, which will also be made smaller.
A total of 1,805 Brits worked at the Cheshire factory prior to Vauxhall's £1billion takeover by the PSA Group in 2017.
The French parent company also owns Peugeot, Citroen and Renault, as well as Vauxhall's German rebrand Opel.
Vauxhall has cut a total of 660 jobs at Ellesmere Port, with around 400 last year and roughly 250 voluntary redundancies at the start of 2018.
Over 92,000 Astras were sent out of Ellesmere Port last year - the last remaining passenger model to be built in the UK.
The Cheshire plant already shares Astra production with the Poland-based Gliwice factory, however, Britain exclusively builds the Astra Sports Tourer estate.
Nearly 110,000 Astra hatchbacks were built at Gliwice in 2017 by 3,000 staff members.
At its main Luton plant, though, the Vauxhall Vivaro van is produced with plans to also make its re-badged sister vehicles, the Peugeot Expert and Citroen Dispatch.
Production at this factory has, in fact, increased since the takeover - rising from 60,000 vehicles in 2017 to 100,000 per annum with 1,225 workers, plus a further 370 at its office headquarters.
Meanwhile, Vauxhall told Sun Motors that it is too early to confirm whether there will be even more job losses at Ellesmere Port.
The car maker does insist, though, that there are no plans to close the plant permanently.
It is also in the process of a 45-day consultation with trade union Unite and employee representatives, with staff also given the option to transfer their job to Luton.
However, that'll be a commute of three to four hours by car - either that, or whole families will have to be uprooted to accommodate the transition.
Vauxhall did not detail the relocation plans when asked by Sun Motors, while trade union Unite confirmed that employee has yet expressed interest.
Mick Chalmers, Unite Regional Coordinating Officer, said: "Vauxhall’s Ellesmere Port workers have made huge sacrifices and worked hard to ensure the carmaker recently returned to profit for the first time in two decades.
"Further job losses will come as a sickening blow for them and their families in the run up to Christmas and will further heighten the anger over the uncertainty surrounding the future of the plant.
"Unite will be offering our members maximum support and pressing for guarantees of no compulsory redundancies.
"Unite will also be seeking urgent assurances and continue to press for PSA to remove the uncertainty surrounding the plant by committing new models to Ellesmere Port beyond 2021.
"PSA should be clear. Unite will not tolerate the death by a thousand cuts of Ellesmere Port and will leave no stone unturned in securing the future of the plant and its skilled workforce."
The first Vauxhalls rolled of Ellesmere Port's production line back in 1964, prior to which it was used by the Royal Auxiliary Air Force.
Previously known as Hooton Park, the RAF trained pilots for World War One at the site and it was also an aircraft repair base during World War Two.
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In a statement Vauxhall said: "This restructuring is critical to ensure that the Ellesmere Port plant develops its competitiveness during this difficult time within the industry. The restructuring is necessary to make it a competitive plant when compared to the benchmark.
"The company confirmed that it remains committed to achieve this essential restructuring without having to utilise compulsory redundancies.
"Additionally, the company outlined the possibility for employees to transfer their employment to its Manufacturing Plant in Luton. In such cases the company would provide relocation support to employees.
The Company will enter into Collective Consultations for a minimum of 45 days with trade union and employee representatives with a view to reaching agreement about avoiding redundancy, reducing the numbers of redundancies and mitigating the consequences of any such dismissals."