Pledge on Vauxhall jobs as Peugeot owner discusses GM deal in Europe

THE jobs of 4,500 Vauxhall workers thrown into doubt by Peugeot’s takeover should be safe until at least 2021.

Unite union bosses met Carlos Tavares, chief executive of Peugeot-owner PSA Groupe, yesterday to discover the likely fate of the car workers at Vauxhall’s plants in Ellesmere Port and Luton if a deal is secured.

Describing the talks in London as “relatively positive”, Len McCluskey, Unite general secretary, said: “Mr Tavares gave assurances that current production commitments would be met, should the takeover go ahead.”

Under current deals with GM, the Astra car is due to remain in production at Vaxuhall’s Ellesmere Port plant until 2021, while the Vivaro van, made in Luton, is scheduled to run there until 2025.

Mr Tavares also met Greg Clark, the Business Secretary, to discuss the impact a sale would have on the company’s UK staff, which includes another 23,000 people working in Vauxhall’s retail and support operations. A further 7,000 people in the company’s supply chain have jobs that depend on the company’s presence in the UK.

The meeting was “constructive”, said Mr Clark, who used the event to “make the case for how important Vauxhall is to the UK and the excellence of its plants and operations across the country”. He added: “The meeting was reassuring. We discussed how PSA’s approach is to increase market share and expand production, rather than close plants. I was assured that the commitments to the plants would be honoured.”

Mr Tavares told him that “no deal has been done” yet with GM, and the Business Secretary said there was “recognition” that the pension arrangements of Vauxhall staff would not be affected.

Peugeot is in talks with General Motors, which owns the Vauxhall and Opel brands, about buying the loss-making European marques in a deal worth $2bn (£1.6bn). Both companies are keen to come to an agreement as soon as possible.

Speaking as PSA – which also owns the Citroen marque – announced record results on Thursday, Mr Tavares said GM’s European business, which has not been in profit since 1999, could “not keep making red ink, it is not sustainable”.

He said Vauxhall-Opel was burning through €1bn (£848m) of cash a year and a tie-up with Peugeot would bring an end to its problems.