Save Vauxhall campaign
Unite on General Motors' intention to retain ownership of Vauxhall
and Opel
04 November 2009 update
Unite has welcomed the announcement from General Motors that it
intends to hold on to its European Opel and Vauxhall
operations.
Victory for Vauxhall: Provisional agreement
with Magna reached
After weeks of extensive negotiations an agreement was reached
on the future of the UK's Vauxhall plants in Ellesmere Port and
Luton in October. Unite, the biggest UK union in car and components
manufacturing, and Magna, the Canadian auto parts company and
preferred bidder for General Motors' European operations finally
hammered out a deal that should help to secure a brighter future
for Vauxhall workers. Find out the full details:
Unite strikes deal with Magna.
Save Vauxhall and IBC jobs
Thousands of people across the country have already signed up to
the campaign calling for government action to save the thousands of
jobs at Ellesmere Port and Luton.
Joint general secretaries, Derek Simpson and Tony Woodley ask
you to do the same.
Send a message to Gordon
Brown today.
Get your MP to sign up to the campaign
Andrew Miller, the Labour MP for Ellesmere Port, has put
down an early day motion calling on MPs to support jobs,
skills and continued production in these high quality and
vital UK plants and the wider supply chain. Write to your MP
by going to http://www.savemanufacturing.co.uk/yourmp.
Check to see if your MP has signed up to EDM
1645 Vauxhall Motors and if not get them to sign
now.
An uncertain future
Workers at Vauxhall's Ellesmere Port and Vauxhall IBC Vehicles'
Luton plants face an uncertain future. Previously, they were
long-standing employees of General Motors. Now they may be
the employees of Magna, a new entrant to UK car
manufacturing.
As the process of due diligence gets underway between Magna, the
Adam Opel bond holders and General Motors, more will inevitably be
revealed about Magna's plans for the GM plants across Europe,
including in the UK.
Unite is determined that throughout the process of the change in
ownership Vauxhall workers will not be left in the dark.
Unite is doing everything in its power to open and maintain
dialogue with Magna on the issues on which the workers at Vauxhall
and IBC urgently need clarification - their jobs, their pensions
and their working future.
With your help, we can do this. Please send a message
to Gordon Brown today.
From the moment plans to sell off GM Europe first emerged, Unite
has pushed the highest reaches of the UK government to do its
utmost to save the skilled jobs at Luton and Ellesmere Port.
We are told that guarantees have been secured on the UK
plants. These guarantees cannot be soft promises, but must be
buttoned down commitments from the new owners that there is a
long-term future for the UK plants, with new models and investment
to match.
Our jobs and plants can be secured by our government negotiating
now with Magna, equipped with the finances needed to deliver
meaningful agreements. The German leader, chancellor Angela
Merkel, has so far committed 1.5 billion euros to the takeover
process. Inevitably this money has led to concerns that
promises have been made on German jobs at the expense of jobs
elsewhere in GM Europe.
This is not yet clear and while this remains the case we need
our government to be batting for British jobs.
One thing must be emphasised during negotiations with Magna;
Vauxhall workers have already suffered through the restructuring of
General Motors. Car manufacturing has gone from Luton, Ellesmere
Port has lost an engine plant, and our workers are already enduring
redundancies and short-time working. Our members have already
paid a high enough price with their jobs, and we will fight to
ensure they pay no more.
Don't lose a talented skills base and a
good market
Time may be in short supply, but it has not run out. Luton
and Ellesmere Port are still brilliant places to build
vehicles. The UK is still the fourth biggest market for
General Motors globally, and the second biggest across Europe, and
with exchange rates at current levels, this is the country from
which to export cars to the rest of the world.
In January, the government announced a £1 billion assistance
programme to help car manufacturing through the recession. Not a
penny of that money has yet been spent, but it is no good to the
workers of this country locked up in a Treasury safe.
It must be used now to help save the talents and skills of the
Vauxhall and IBC workforces who are so central to the stability of
the UK's wider manufacturing sector.
We know that every one of the 5,500 workers and their families
in Luton and Ellesmere Port has a roof to keep over their heads and
needs to be able to put food on the table.
These workers have worked tirelessly to help GM Europe succeed,
and will do the same again for Magna. Unite's promise to the
workers of Luton and Merseyside is that we will work day and night
to fight for your factories and your futures.
So join the campaign, send a message to the prime
minister.
Save Vauxhall jobs now!
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