Merkel vows to save German jobs in blow to Vauxhall staf f
THE future of 3,500 car workers in Britain was cast into fresh doubt last night as Angela Merkel vowed to fight for German jobs threatened by the proposed takeover of Vauxhall.
Thousands of jobs are at risk under plans by the French owner of Peugeot and Citroen to buy the European arm of General Motors – which includes Vauxhall in the UK and Opel on the Continent.
German chancellor Mrs Merkel yesterday said she would do everything in her power to protect the 19,000 Opel jobs in Germany should the company be bought by French giant PSA Group.
But her robust defence of German manufacturing contrasted with British ministers, who won only thin assurances over the future of the factories in Cheshire and Bedfordshire.
Business Secretary Greg Clark said he had held ‘constructive meetings’ in Paris with French car bosses, but there were no guarantees over the Vauxhall workforce in the UK.
Analysts said Vauxhall workers in the UK are ‘very vulnerable’ as a result of the deal, as tough German labour laws made it far more expensive to lay off workers there than in the UK.
PSA Group – which is 14 per cent owned by the French government – and GM are understood to be discussing a price tag of £1.6billion for the Vauxhall and Opel unit and are hoping to reach an agreement by the end of next week.
Vauxhall employs 1,830 staff at its factory in Ellesmere Port, where it makes the Astra, and a further 1,530 in Luton where it makes the Vivaro van. In total, the business employs 38,000 staff – 19,000 in Germany – spread across ten manufacturing plants and three development centres in seven European countries, including Poland, Spain, Austria and Hungary. The row is shaping up to be the biggest industrial headache for Theresa May since she became Prime Minis
‘Received no assurances’
ter, and saw Mr Clark dispatched to Paris on Thursday for crisis talks.
The Business Secretary said: ‘I had constructive meetings in Paris with both my French counterpart, the industry minister, and executives of PSA Group, in which they explained the rationale behind this potential alliance. They stressed that they valued highly the enduring strength of the Vauxhall brand, underpinned by its committed workforce. While discussions are ongoing, they made clear to me that in any deal these were strengths they would wish to build on. We agreed to remain in close contact during the period ahead.’
Mr Clark has also held talks with GM president Dan Ammann and union boss Len McCluskey, general secretary of Unite, amid mounting concerns over Vauxhall’s UK workforce. Despite the series of meetings, Mr McCluskey has said he had received ‘no assurances at the moment’ over jobs at Vauxhall. Mr McCluskey said the UK Government should now demand that it has a seat at the table whenever PSA Group and GM meet for talks with the French and German governments. Ministers have also been urged to offer incentives to PSA Group to keep Ellesmere Port and Luton open – as it did in October with Nissan to convince the Japanese car maker to increase its investment in Sunderland.
John Colley, a professor at Warwick Business School, said PSA Group ‘has little choice but to close the UK Vauxhall plants at Ellesmere Port and Luton to make the Opel acquisition work’. He added: ‘The cost of closing the highcost German plants will be at least triple that of the UK plants. Not only will they have to placate the powerful German unions, but redundancy costs are around three times the level of the UK.’