General Motors to axe 12,000 European jobs

General Motors is to slash 12,000 jobs in Europe by the end of 2006 in a plan aimed at saving £278m (€404.9m) a year.

The company said that 90% of the cuts would be made in 2005 and that the plan “provides for the majority of the cuts to be in Germany, with a heavy emphasis on managing and engineering”.

However, it said negotiations with employee representatives would determine which of its 10 European manufacturing plants are affected.

“The details we must negotiate with our workers councils, beginning today - and we hope to have an agreement by the end of November,” GM Europe spokesman Ruediger Assion said.

GM Europe currently has 62,000 employees. Vauxhall is its British arm.