By Paul Burnell BBC News

The workers are unlikely to be making cars again.

Redundant workers from Vauxhall's Ellesmere Port and Neston plant will face a tough battle to find jobs in manufacturing with similar pay and conditions, unions are predicting.

Roger Maddison of Amicus, said: "If the experience of workers from Rover at Longbridge is anything to go by, it is going to be very difficult."

Mr Maddison said only 200 out of the 6,000 workforce at the Birmingham plant - which closed last year - got "quality jobs" in the manufacturing sector.

And workers at Ellesmere Port will have even more problems trying to find another job in the North West motor industry.

The region is home to 450 companies in the motor industry with a �9billion annual turnover.

Everybody is reducing staff - even the companies with increased productivity Roger Maddison - Amicus

But only last month sports car manufacturer TVR revealed plans to quit its Blackpool factory within six months.

The firm - which has temporarily laid off more than a quarter of its 260 staff - said it was unable to guarantee the future of its remaining workforce.

But as Mr Maddison explained: "Everybody is reducing staff - even the companies with increased productivity."

Local effect

A spokesman for Ellesmere Port and Neston Borough Council said it is too early to assess the effect on the local economy.

Unemployment is low in the area at 2.4% and this will not leap due to the fact that the workforce is not just drawn from the immediate locality. Many workers travel in from the Wirral, Chester and North Wales.

The North West Regional Development Agency has promised that a rapid response fund will be set up with partners such as JobCentre Plus, 7he Learning and Skills Council and Northwest Automotive Alliance to pay for re-training and re-employment guidance.

The agency has been taking a number of steps to create new opportunities for the motor industry in the North West.

These include a dedicated business development team to help companies in establishing themselves in the region and strengthening the industry's science and technology development by promoting collaboration between the region's universities and automotive companies.

But this is little consolation to the workers getting their redundancy notices at Ellesmere Port.

According to Mr Maddison most will have to face a future out of manufacturing and a likely switch to jobs in the service sector.