Car
manufacturer Vauxhall is increasingly confident that there will be no
compulsory redundancies from its Luton car plant.
It
expects 1,200 workers to transfer to the neighbouring IBC plant, which produces
the Vivaro van and Frontera off-roader.
The
remaining 2,000 workers from the car plant will take voluntary redundancies.
Some
workers will transfer to Vauxhall’s other plant in Ellesmere Port and the rest
will take voluntary redundancy.
Meanwhile,
trade unions including the Transport and General Workers’ Union, Vauxhall
Management, GM’s European Works Council and the UK government were locked in
talks to bring a replacement to the off-road Frontera or another model to
Luton’s IBC plant.
T &
G chief negotiator Tony Woodley said, “If this project is successful and we do
obtain the replacement Frontera or another model for Luton, it will mean we
have secured jobs beyond the expected 2004 end date.”
In late
December Vauxhall’s owner, General Motors, made a shock announcement that car
production would stop in Luton in Spring 2002.
