Fresh turmoil engulfed the UK car industry today as workers at a General Motors plant walked out after reports that 1,000 jobs will be axed at the factory.
Production came to a standstill at the US car giant's Vauxhall plant in Ellesmere Port, Merseyside, because of what union officials described as a "spontaneous" action by union officials.
Roger Maddison, the national officer of Amicus, said: "We can confirm that workers at Vauxhall in Ellesmere Port have walked out of the plant this morning as a reaction to extremely unhelpful comments made in the media today by Carl-Peter Forster, GM's European president, that the only way forward for the Ellesmere Port plant would be to take a shift out, which would result in up to 1,000 job losses."
Mr Forster said the carmaker was negotiating with labour representatives who wanted to spread production cuts over other GM plants in Europe that make the Astra compact, but that the idea was "not super-attractive."
"This just delays a real solution," he said yesterday at a ceremony opening GM Europe's design centre in Rüsselsheim, Germany.
Any job losses at GM would follow last month's decision by the French carmaker PSA Peugeot Citroen to close its central England plant next year, losing 2,300 jobs, and the collapse of MG Rover last year with the loss of 6,000 jobs.
Up to 900 workers were involved in today's walkout, bringing production of Astra cars and the new Astra van to a halt. Factory sources said workers on the afternoon and evening shifts were likely to join the wildcat action.
The Transport and General Workers Union general secretary, Tony Woodley, again described Britain as a "soft touch" for job losses amid fears of cuts at Vauxhall.
"Britain is the soft touch of Europe when it comes to taking away workers' jobs. That's why Vauxhall has zeroed in on Ellesmere Port when it considers throwing 1,000 car workers on the dole," he said.
Mr Woodley said he could not condemn the strike because of the "outrageous" comments made by Mr Forster.
"For him to make these comments at exactly the same time as meetings are being held across Europe to try to find an alternative to losing a shift at Ellesmere Port is beyond belief.
GM is undergoing wrenching change in North America that will see the loss of 30,000 jobs and the closure of 12 plants.
Last month it reported a $323m (£181m) loss in the first quarter, an improvement over a $1.3bn loss a year ago. For all of 2005, GM made a $10.6bn loss. In March, GM said sales had fallen 14% on the same month a year ago.
