Vauxhall strikers set date

The protesters feel the UK has been unfairly singled out

Members of the biggest union at Vauxhall will strike next week in protest at the closure of the company's Luton car plant.

The Transport & General Workers Union said its members had voted by 58% in favour of the stoppage.

A spokesman said workers at Luton and Ellesmere Port would walk out from night shifts next Thursday and from all shifts on Friday.

A ban on overtime during the following weekend will also be imposed.

Members of the AEEU and MSF unions voted against strike action.

But the AEEU said a majority of its members had called for industrial action, short of a walkout.

The decision to shut the Luton plant - announced last December - shocked unions, coming as it did after increased productivity and successful negotiations which appeared to guarantee new investment at the site.

'Unfairly singled out'

Union leaders began a campaign aimed at convincing Vauxhall to reverse the decision.

They claimed Vauxhall's parent company, General Motors (GM) of the US, was singling out UK operations unfairly in a cuts programme affecting the company's operations across Europe.

But GM denied the UK was suffering more cuts than the company's other production sites in Europe.

Closure of the Luton plant, scheduled for 12 months' time, will mean the loss of about 2,000 jobs.

Earlier this month, Vauxhall took some of the sting out of unions' anger, announcing it would invest £200m in its Ellesmere Port plant.