Member company news: Vauxhall’s Ellesmere Port plant will build next-generation Astra, creating 700 new jobs
A new labour agreement based on enhanced flexibility – which received over 90 per cent ‘yes’ votes from the workforce in a ballot on 16 May – played a crucial part in earning Ellesmere Port the allocation of the next-generation Astra…
The agreement comes into force in 2013 and runs into the 2020s, with assembly of the new model scheduled to begin in 2015. A number of major commitments were made by top management:
• Ellesmere Port will become the lead Astra plant (of two, the other being Gliwice in Poland)
• The plant will build the new 5-door model plus an exclusive derivative yet to be confirmed
• GM intends to invest £125 million to upgrade the plant to the latest manufacturing standards
• The plant will run on three shifts, with a guaranteed output of at least 160,000 vehicles per year.
• Vauxhall will create around 700 new plant jobs to enable the three-shift arrangement and also raise the local supply content for the Astra to at least 25 per cent, which will create further employment locally and in the UK.
“This great news comes at a time when we are preparing for the Ellesmere Port plant’s 50th anniversary”, said Vauxhall’s MD and Chairman Duncan Aldred. “This new ground-breaking achievement will give us the prospect of many future car generations to come.”
