GM staff vote on time pay deal

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Twelve hundred workers at the van factory in Luton will be affected

A van building plant in Bedfordshire that announced extra closure days is offering its workforce full pay if staff work the hours later on.

General Motors' plant at Luton is stopping production on set days leading up to Christmas, which will amount to about eight days' downtime.

The 1,200 strong workforce is voting on an offer hammered out by unions and the firm for full pay with conditions.

Staff had faced getting statutory pay of £20 per day on the forced days off.

General Motors' director of communications Denis Chick said the agreement was the same as the one in operation at the Ellesmere Port plant in Cheshire.

Extra production

If workers agree to the deal they will be paid normal day rate on the days the site is closed, but will have to work overtime later.

Mr Chick said: "When we have calls for extra production, on those days they come in for free."

General Motors had already announced a series of down days, including a one-week stoppage due to start on 27 October.

However, it has since been confirmed this will be held as two five-day stoppages starting on 20 October.

The company said the workforce already knew about the initial closure dates as they were announced at the beginning of October.

But it said it was the first time staff would have known the plant was shutting for two weeks.