Magna, GM and unions meet in a move to save UK jobs at Vauxhall car plants
BUSINESS minister Pat McFadden and bosses at Unite union last night met with Magna International, the new owner of Vauxhall, in the latest move to save British jobs.
The news comes as Germany looks set to consult British officials as early as next week on Magna’s takeover of General Motor’s (GM) European unit, which is called Vauxhall in the UK and Opel in Germany and the rest of Europe.
Magna, which is taking on the carmaker with Russian bank Sberbank, has already said it will slash 10,500 jobs across Europe as it seeks to make Opel profitable and pay back €4.5bn (£3.8bn) in state aid.
Around a third of GM’s 4,700 UK workforce, in factories in Cheshire and in Luton and Ellesmere Port, could lose their jobs.
PricewaterhouseCoopers, which was appointed by Berlin to scrutinise Magna’s bid, is expected to conclude a viability report on the takeover within a week.
It is expected to back the Canadian parts maker’s plan to return the carmaker to profit by 2011, while stressing the risks of credit default and the carmaker’s reliance on a recovery in the Russian auto market.