The future of General Motor’s Vauxhall plants in Britain has been secured according to the UK trade union Unite.

Tony Woodley, joint general secretary of Unite, said annual production at Vauxhall’s Ellesmere Port facility in north west England would “grow significantly” to almost 148,000 units and that its Luton plant, just north of London, would remain “a key manufacturing site.” He added that 600 jobs that would otherwise have been lost had been preserved, and Magna had agreed not to implement any enforced redundancies. Vauxhall employs around 5,500 people. That came as GM’s Chief executive Fritz Henderson said it is close to finalising the deal to sell a majority stake in its European arm Opel and Vauxhall to the Canadian car parts maker Magna and Russia’s Sberbank. “It’s quite possible to see documents signed this week,” Henderson told reporters in Shanghai, China. Spanish unions have said no agreement has yet been reached with Magna over jobs in Spain at the Opel factory in Zaragoza. Magna plans to cut about 10,500 European jobs.More about: Car industry, General Motors, Opel

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