Report from occupied car-part factory in North London

As the debate on the crisis got physical in central London this Wednesday, facing redundancy with slashed severance pay, hero’s working for Visteon producing car parts occupied their workplace! About 70 workers have squatted the residence, with Unite flags and home-made banners all over the roof and surrounding roads.

With no jobs, former workers at the plant have also discovered that their pension funds have been frozen, casting the return of this money into doubt.

The factory was owned by Ford until 2002 when it was handed over to Visteon, a company that supplies only to Ford, and in which 51% of shares are Ford. The Workers were promised mirrored terms, meaning they had all the same pay and rights as Ford workers, and any pay increases or redundancy deals for Ford workers would also apply to them. This has not been upheld. The redundancy packages are thousands of pounds lower than what other Ford workers have been offered. Unite are demanding that this be rectified.

But workers at the plant have begun to feel empowered by the level of support, and by the success of their own actions; being a local resident I visited today and spoke to the occupiers. They relate their struggle to the recent riots around the G20 summit, and some inside have discussed making more radical demands, including keeping their jobs and going back into production under occupation. The atmosphere at the plant is very positive, with picnics, music, drinks and football keeping everyone entertained, and they asked me to invite people down.

Support will continue from all over London, and we will certainly be reporting on further developments as time goes on. We wish the workers every success, and hope that those who are losing their jobs in this difficult time look to them as an example of what can be done.

A demo in support of the occupation will be held at 11AM tomorrow Saturday 4th April – Visteon is opposite Ponder End station, trains run from Liverpool Street.