Vauxhall cuts 241 more jobs at Ellesmere Port manufacturing plant in Cheshire

Car maker Vauxhall is to slash 241 jobs at its Ellesmere Port manufacturing plant by the end of 2019, in a move it claims is “critical” to the competitiveness of the site.

Owner Peugeot's (PSA) shares dipped this afternoon as Vauxhall said it planned to reduce headcount without having to utilise compulsory redundancies, instead trying to carry out the action on a voluntary basis.

Ellesmere Port has been the site of two previous major rounds of cuts in the last 13 months, with around 400 jobs lost in October last year, then 250 more in January in a major restructuring operation by Peugeot.

Vauxhall builds the Astra Sports Tourer model at Ellesmere Port, a brand which has dropped 11 percent of sales so far this year. It said the decision was not Brexit-related.

It said employees would have the option to move to Luton to work at the company’s manufacturing plant there, with “relocation support” provided.

The company’s plan for 2019 includes “site compression, implementation of new technologies and other transformation activities which will impact on headcount requirements,” said Vauxhall in a statement.

It said: “This restructuring requires a planned phased reduction in headcount by 241 heads during 2019.

“The restructuring is necessary to make it a competitive plant when compared to the benchmark.”

The announcement marks the fourth round of cuts in recent years, resulting in a workforce reduction of nearly 60 per cent, according to workers’ union Unite.

Unite regional coordinating officer, Mick Chalmers, said: “Vauxhall’s Ellesmere Port workers have made huge sacrifices and worked hard to ensure the carmaker recently returned to profit for the first time in two decades.

“Further job losses will come as a sickening blow for them and their families in the run up to Christmas and will further heighten the anger over the uncertainty surrounding the future of the plant.

“PSA should be clear. Unite will not tolerate the death by a thousand cuts of Ellesmere Port and will leave no stone unturned in securing the future of the plant and its skilled workforce.”