Fears of job losses and plant closures at car maker Vauxhall grew at the weekend as three firms vied to buy GM Europe, ahead of a June 1 deadline to reach an agreement.
Those in the running are Italy’s Fiat, Austrian-Canadian auto parts supplier Magna International and European buyout firm RHJ International.
Unions know that 10,000 jobs at least will be shed from Opel and Vauxhall once GM Europe changes hands.
Union officials are meeting the bidders this week to seek assurances on jobs.
Vauxhall employs a total of 5,000 at GM Luton and at Vauxhall Ellesmere Port on Merseyside, both of which are already on short time.
The final say for the offer lies with General Motors in the US, but the German government has agreed to provide the bulk of the ‘aid’ for any deal by Wednesday’s deadline.
Unite officials have urged the UK government to make an effort to ‘be round the table’, expressing fears that the UK is being kept in the cold.
Last week, business secretary Mandelson said that GM Europe faces ‘a painfiul change’ and that whoever takes it over ‘will cut costs and consolidate’.
Italian carmaker Fiat at the weekend improved its bid to buy Opel and its UK brand Vauxhall.
The German Economy Minister Karl-Theodor zu Guttenberg said that Fiat had provided more detail about capital contributions and risk-sharing.
Fiat said it would cut around 10,000 jobs if its bid succeeds, and has warned it will close the Opel engine plant at Kaiserslautern.
The Italian carmaker said last week the cuts would be made across Opel’s Europe-wide operations, which currently employ about 50,000.
Canadian car parts firm Magna, in partnership with Russia bank Sberbank, has pledged not to close any of the German Opel plants, which many fear will put the seal on plant closures in the UK.
Magna co-chief executive Siegfried Wolf said: ‘Under our concept the German sites are seen as assets and we want to keep as many jobs as possible.’
Commenting on the new Fiat offer, zu Guttenberg said on Saturday: ‘We’re sensing a willingness to negotiate further from all sides.’
But yesterday he warned that before any bid is accepted: ‘We must first have a high degree of certainty that the significant tax money we will have to provide is not lost.
‘From my point of view, none of the three offers so far provides this certainty in a sufficient way.’
But the premier of Opel’s home state of Hesse, Roland Koch, said the Magna offer was ‘closest to the hopes and wishes’ of German politicians and Opel workers.
German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier described the Magna bid as the only ‘sustainable’ plan among the three.
Vauxhall workers must immediately occupy their plants at Luton and Ellesmere Port and demand Unite launch a campaign of industrial action to nationalise the auto maker.
