Vauxhall workers have agreed a two-year pay freeze and large cost savings in a deal with the car firm’s prospective new owners to save its two UK plants and about 5,500 jobs.
There will be no compulsory redundancies and the prospect of new models for the Luton van plant past 2013 and for Ellesmere Port beyond 2016, when the next generation Astra is unveiled, the Daily Mail reports.
Business secretary Peter Mandelson welcomed the news but insisted there was still ‘some way to go’ in agreeing the deal’s financing, which he confirmed could run to ‘hundreds of millions of pounds’.
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Only last month, Lord Mandelson moved to quell fears of jobs losses at UK Vauxhall plants.
Vauxhall bosses also welcomed the deal – US car giant General Motors looks set tomorrow to sign the deal to sell Vauxhall and Opel to the consortium led by Canadian car parts supplier Magna International.
