Vauxhall
is to offer all of its staff with more than 20 years’ service a new car for
life.
The
deal is part of the company’s annual pay agreement, which was struck this
month, and around 2,500 of Vauxhall’s 8,000 hourly-paid employees are eligible
for the benefit.
Every
six months, employees with at least 20 years’ service will receive a new
Vauxhall car in a deal that continues into the employees’ retirement and until
their death, in return for £100 rental fee a month. Staff who have worked for
the firm for five years are also able to rent cars.
Bruce
Warman, director of personnel for Vauxhall, said, "The car is a benefit
that we are able to give to our people and does not cost the company a great
deal. It has a long-term aim, which is to reward the loyalty of our workforce
and to create an atmosphere that makes our staff feel valued."
The
car manufacturer has also agreed a new three-year pay offer with its workforce
of 3 per cent, backdated to September.
The
increase will be followed by 0.5 per cent increases above the rate of inflation
for the next two years.
The
deal, which was agreed by more than 90 per cent of the firm’s employees, will
increase the weekly pay of a Vauxhall production worker by £10 to £434.
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"I
am really pleased with the deal. It shows that we look after our people without
being able to throw money away. The unions were wholeheartedly behind the deal,
remembering it was only 10 months ago that there was a strike ballot over the
closure of the Luton plant," said Warman.
By
Paul Nelson
