Vauxhall workers back union deal

Ellesmere Port is one of two Vauxhall factories in the UK

Workers at the Vauxhall car plant in Ellesmere Port have voted to accept a deal agreed between unions and the proposed new owner, Magna.

Unite leaders agreed to a two-year pay freeze and other cost-savings in return for having no compulsory redundancies.

About 2,100 workers attended the vote during a mass meeting at the factory earlier.

Unite convenor John Featherstone said members had overwhelmingly backed the joint agreement.

'Long-term future'

"I'd like to think they were happy, or happier than they were a few months ago, a couple of weeks ago, when it didn't look good because the Magna deal wasn't good for us," he told BBC Radio Merseyside.

"You can't make people sing and dance on a wage freeze but we can hopefully guarantee the long term future of the plant.

"We are cost efficient, we are quality driven, we'll match anybody and we've proven that.

"They [Magna] have recognised that and are prepared to invest and give us a long-term future - and rightly so."

Magna is in the process of buying both Opel and Vauxhall, having been chosen by General Motors (GM) after a long-running bidding process.

It had been feared the company would cut about 1,200 jobs in the UK.

But Unite said that figure was now 600 and would only be reduced through voluntary redundancy.

Under the deal, Ellesmere Port will produce the next generation Astra, set for 2016, subject to maintaining its competitive position.