The sign on the Visteon factory at Ponders End still proudly reads “An Enterprise of Ford Motor Company, Limited” but in fact they sold it and the workers out some years ago. When Visteon was set up, workers were given new contracts, along with promises that they would continue to enjoy the same conditions they had with Ford. Now Visteon has abandoned its UK plants to adminstrators KPMG and those promises appear worthless. Workers were told in a six minute meeting that they no longer had a job and given an hour to take their personal possessions from their lockers and leave.
Later, on hearing that their fellow workers in Belfast had occupied the factory, they returned, found the back gate open and followed their example. On Saturday I turned up with a couple of hundred others at the factory to offer support in their attempt to get a fair settlement from their former employers, in which they have the backing of their union, Unite.
Many of those who used to work there have given 30 or 40 years of their life to Ford/Visteon, and although of course they have been paid for their labour, it really represents an investment by people that our labour laws don’t properly recognise. I’ve been through “transfer of undertakings” and felt some of the pain and the inadequacy of our laws, though I was fortunate and retained a job, while some colleagues were – and deeply felt – discarded.
More about the occupation and more pictures on My London Diary