A quantum leap in union relations

The triumphant turnaround at Vauxhall's Ellesmere Port site is something straight out of classic US sci-fi drama Quantum Leap. The TV show featured do-good scientist Sam Beckett travelling back in time to fix people's life-changing mistakes with the benefit of quantum physics and some tenuous special effects. It's easy to make a case that, at some point, Sam inadvertently punched in the co-ordinates for Ellesmere Port, Cheshire on his time machine. The local Vauxhall plant should have shut in 2011. Bankruptcy-hit General Motors wanted to pull back from Europe and was bearing down on a site it associated with industrial strife and inefficiency. The factory was resigned to its fate; management and union members divided. Over 2,000 skilled employees prepare to sign on at the jobcentre, alongside a host of local business owners whose livelihoods depended on the site. Then came a defining moment: a renewed determination from the management team to strike an accord with union leaders. Talks were framed with honesty and openness. Not everyone saw eye to eye, and there were tantrums and tears, but always and no matter what, both parties remained entwined by the same objective – survival. Tough talking was supplemented by government support. Vince Cable, supported by a direct line to No 10, visits Ellesmere Port where he gets a grip on the plant's importance and its potential to add value to UK plc. Crucially, his attention extends beyond the publicity shots and he goes the extra mile to lobby GM bosses in New York and then Geneva. Just months later and the plant's future is secured with a £125m deal to build the new Astra. Whether we hand the credit for the triumph to management, union members, Vince Cable or Sam Beckett is unclear. Beyond doubt, however, is that the Ellesmere Port episode represents a quantum leap for union relations in UK manufacturing.