Vauxhall jobs at risk
CANADIAN car parts manufacturer Magna could axe thousands of British car workers’ jobs following its takeover of Vauxhall-Opel, it emerged yesterday.
Magna, which is backed by Russian bank Sberbank and last week agreed to buy the European arm of US car giant General Motors, said up to 10,500 jobs could be cut at Vauxhall plants in the UK and Opel plants in Germany.
Co-chief executive of Magna Siegfried Wolf said the cuts could take more than a year to implement: “We will do everything we can to avoid job losses.”
He did not reveal which plants would be hit but referred to Magna’s original bid made in July which outlined 830 job cuts at the Vauxhall plant in Ellesmere Port. Vauxhall employs 5,500 staff at its Ellesmere Port and Luton plants.
The German government worked hard to secure the deal with Magna, which was in competition with Belgian private equity group RHJ International, because it was given assurances that none of the four German Opel plants would close. However, no similar guarantees have been given for the UK operations.
Opel employs 54,500 workers across Europe.