UNION officials have flown to Germany for an emergency meeting on cutting costs at General Motors factories across Europe, including the Vauxhall car plant in Ellesmere Port.

It comes after weekend warnings from the automobile-maker that it would be bankrupt within months unless it got an emergency cash injection from the US government to help it ride out the global financial crisis.

GM needs at least £7bn to pay its bills each month and has called off merger talks with Chrysler to ask America for help after using up $6.9bn (£4.4bn) in the third quarter of 2008.

On Thursday, the top executives of Ford, GM and Chrysler, known as Detroit’s “big three”, asked the US Congress for some $50bn (£31.8bn) in federal aid to help them survive the credit crunch.

The meeting at GM’s European headquarters in Russelsheim, Germany, which had been scheduled a couple of weeks ago, has now taken on additional importance, with representatives from GM factories across the continent involved.

Vauxhall union convener John Fetherstone, who flew over at the weekend, said the news that GM was losing money “would not come as a surprise” to the 2,200 workers at the Ellesmere Port plant as the company has been “haemorrhaging money every year”.

He said he remained optimistic about the future of the plant as it was the second cheapest in Europe producing the Vauxhall Astra.

The plant was forced to cease production for 18 days in October and the beginning of November and the factory will also close for at least three extra days over the normal Christmas shutdown, due to a dramatic drop in car sales.

The shutdowns will mean 9,000 fewer vehicles produced at the site, which earlier this year had been calling staff in to work extra hours to meet increased demand.

The company cut 900 jobs at the Ellesmere Port site in May 2006, when it ended the third shift.

Mr Fetherstone said: “I am optimistic about the future of the Ellesmere Port plant, in so far as we start production of the new Astra in September 2009.

“Hopefully then we will go back to three shifts.”

He said the news that GM had admitted it was in desperate need of help did not mean workers at Ellesmere Port should be overly worried.

He continued: “We have no reason to think we are at risk – that is just speculation.”

Mr Fetherstone said that, at the meeting in Germany, members discussed cost-cutting measures to get the plants through the next few months.

GM, which is the world’s biggest car-maker, said it planned to make more job cuts, including another 5,500 salaried and factory workers.

But the Detroit-based firm warned that this alone would not be enough to keep it afloat.

GM chairman and chief executive officer Rick Wagoner said the firm would “take every action” possible to avoid bankruptcy.

Explaining the company would use every source of potential funding, he said: “We’re convinced that the consequences of bankruptcy would be dire.

“We need to find a way to get through this, and that’s our focus,” he added.

A spokesman for GM in the UK said no reference had been made at any meeting to jobs at the British sites and that discussions between car manufacturers and US officials were ongoing.

He added: “The challenge is raising cash, to make sure we have enough to get through this crisis period.

“We will have to wait and see what comes out of the discussions in the US but to suggest UK jobs are at risk is pure speculation.”