Vol. 73/No. 16      April 27, 2009

One hundred fifty workers who have been occupying the Belfast plant in Northern Ireland since then marched April 9 with supporters through pouring rain in west Belfast.

One of the workers, Jake Burns, told the Belfast Telegraph, “We’re not going down without a fight. Either the plant reopens or we get the redundancies we are entitled to.” With Visteon declaring bankruptcy workers will receive only the statutory minimum redundancy (severance) payments, thousands of pounds less than Ford had guaranteed employees “for a lifetime.” (£1 = US$1.48.)

Workers at the Basildon plant just outside London marched through the busy town center April 11 to applause from many local residents. The workers have mounted a 24-hour picket outside the plant after being forced out of an occupation the day after the factory closure was announced.

“We were escorted out of the plant under threat of arrest by police with riot equipment and dogs,” marcher Rob Fitch, who worked at the plant for 13 years, told the Militant. He said workers there were pleased to receive a delegation from the plant in Belfast earlier in the week. “I’m working together to fight for jobs with people in the plant I had never spoken to before,” he said.

Alan Phillips, deputy convener of the UNITE union at the New Holland tractor plant in Basildon, attended the march and said he would organize a collection at the tractor plant for the Visteon workers, who are also represented by UNITE.

Chris Jones worked at Visteon in Basildon for 17 years and now takes responsibility for cooking at the picket line. He said that “others are looking at this fight—it’s setting a precedent for what happens elsewhere.”

Lloyd Dixon, who has been employed at the Enfield factory just north of London for seven years, made a similar point on the picket line there. “This is a test case,” he told the Militant. “All working people have a stake in what we are doing. The government is helping the company by letting them get away with this.”

Dixon added, “They never thought we would do this. Now the company has been forced to negotiate, because of the action we’ve taken.”

Workers had occupied the Enfield plant to protest its closing but decided to leave April 9 under threat of eviction. Contempt of court charges had been filed against union convener Kevin Nolan and deputy Piers Hood, who could have faced prison sentences. The union agreed to end the occupation in exchange for dropping the contempt charges.

“They’re turning ordinary people into criminals,” said Ray Dixon, who worked at the plant for 18 years. As the workers occupying the Enfield factory walked out, they were greeted with cheers from more than 200 people gathered outside the plant. “The fight goes on until we get our just demands,” said Nolan.

Workers are now mounting pickets outside the site and have erected several tents to provide shelter and to cook. Sharon Steele, who took part in the occupation, told the Enfield Independent, “We are going to try and stop the parts coming out of the plant. It will be peaceful… . We will appeal to the drivers’ better natures.”

“We’ve had lots of support, including from students and local shops,” explained Stephen Parenti, a shop steward at the plant. A group of workers from the Basildon plant visited the Enfield picket line April 10.

Ögmundur Jónsson contributed to this article.  
 
 
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