SENIOR executives in Vauxhall's fleet department will have their pay frozen for a year as part of a high profile initiative by the company's management to secure workers' support for a new pay and productivity deal. The package is designed to guarantee the long term future of Vauxhall's plants at Ellesmere Port and Luton.

Fleet operations director Bill Parfitt, and Mike Bonner, general manager corporate sales, are understood to be two of 25 senior Vauxhall executives who have agreed to accept a one-year salary freeze. Vauxhall's nine directors will all take an unspecified cut in salary, while chairman and managing director Nick Reilly will have his base salary set at zero for a year.

Despite foregoing his £160,000 base salary, however, Reilly is unlikely to remain penniless for the year - the company's last published accounts revealed that he earned almost £90,000 in bonuses and benefits during his first nine months at the head of Vauxhall.

The manufacturer is currently in negotiations with trade unions over a new three-year wages and productivity package for staff, in the knowledge that the replacement for the current Vectra will only be made in two factories instead of the three plants producing the car today.