By 2015, GM’s Vauxhall assembly plant in Ellesmere Port is expected to shut down. As a result, the plant has been a hot topic; but all the media attention has been distracting in the eyes of the plant’s management, which has instructed workers and suppliers to avoid reporters at all costs. Even The Guardian’s attempts to photograph Astras awaiting delivery at the site’s distribution area was enough to get the attention of security guards, who told photographers to “desist.”
At the same time, the Ellesmere Port plant will celebrate its 50th birthday this year, but the mood couldn’t be more tense. An anonymous supplier told The Guardian that the mood is “grim” among the plant’s the 2,800 workers who work together to produce the Astra compact car. According to Vauxhall, press attention is “unsettling a workforce operating in a competitive market.” More like overly crowded, if you ask us.
It is estimated that GM is 400,000 units over capacity in Europe – the equivalent of two factories —Ellesmere, and Germany’s Bochum plant.
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