Workers react to GM Opel deal

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GM had agreed to sell Opel to Magna in September

Thousands of workers at Opel's car factories in Germany are on strike in protest at General Motors' decision not to sell its European operations.

They fear their jobs are now more at risk than if the sell off had gone ahead. GM has said it will cut ten thousand jobs from its plants in Europe, which include Vauxhall in the UK.

A German worker at Opel, and two British workers at Vauxhall's plant in Ellesmere Port, give their verdict on the latest twist in Opel's plans.

KY TEGER, TEST DRIVER, RUESSELSHEIM, GERMANY

I am a test driver. I have worked for Opel for 17 years.

I am on strike because General Motors have made big, big mistakes in the past 10 years and we are here to say no to GM.

We were shocked to hear the sell off to Magna was not happening. We had hoped for a new start with Magna - and now we have nothing.

Am I worried about my job? A good question.

Although GM and Magna were talking about a similar number of job cuts, GM has made so many mistakes over the past years we had hoped for something different with Magna.

They have made management mistakes. We have some good cars, but we don't sell them. There is no development for good cars.

For example, Volkswagen has very good quality output and we could have the same, but we have no money for that.

Can trust be rebuilt between Opel workers and GM management? I'm not sure, I don't know.

MALCOLM FAIRCLOUGH, CHESTER, UK

This is fantastic news for workers at Ellesmere Port. It gives us more long term job security.

We all fully understand there are going to be cuts. For example, we committed to a two-year pay freeze with Magna and I can't see that changing.

There's a real possibility that the electric car may be now be built here alongside the new Astra, which will protect jobs and maybe create new ones.

The decision will also protect our pensions. We have a final salary pension scheme at Vauxhall with GM, but the unions said Magna wasn't keen on continuing this.

I've worked there for 11 years, I trouble-shoot in the paint unit.

Considering we've gone through 12 months of uncertainty, I'd say morale is very good. We know we can't change anything personally, so we just concentrate on making good cars.

Germany was happy to stitch us up with the Magna deal so, while I don't like to see people lose their jobs, they didn't really care about us.

TERRY PHILIPSON, MAINTENANCE FITTER, ELLESMERE PORT, UK

I think most of the job cuts will be in Germany. They have the least economic plants.

I've worked at the Ellesmere Port plant for 18 years. Of course there will be job cuts here, we just don't know how many.

Ellesmere Port already gave a lot of concessions to the new company in the bidding process for the new Astra.

We are very busy for the launch in January, we're producing 50,000 Astras before Christmas. Hopefully they'll sell, it's very similar to the Insignia, which was Car of the Year 2009.

To be honest, we all felt the sell-off to Magna was not going to happen. We felt GM was backed into a corner by the German government. It was dragging on too much.

Personally I think we're safer now with GM than we would have been with Magna. Certainly in terms of pensions and working conditions. Better the devil you know.