Irish auto workers settle sit-down

After a 36-day occupation of the Visteon plant in Belfast, members of the union Unite voted May 5 to accept a settlement. Negotiated with former owner Ford, the agreement gives workers severance benefits ranging from six to 18 months’ salary.

On March 31, after being given a six-minute notice that they were being sacked, workers took over the plant. Their “first and foremost demand,” according to Unite Deputy Convenor Charlie Maxwell, was “that Ford Company reopen this plant. Our work was taken off of us under the guise of the recession and the credit crisis, none of which were applicable to us.” (www.indymedia.ie, April 27)

One day later on April 1, English workers in Enfield took over their Visteon plant, while workers in Basildon, blocked from entering their plant, began a protest outside. Eight days later the Enfield workers were evicted but kept up a presence at the plant.

Strike supporters held solidarity rallies and picketed Ford dealerships. Toward the end of the Belfast occupation, Irish union members traveled to Basildon and Enfield to support their comrades. While in England they lent support to parents occupying the roof of a primary school slated to be torn down.

The solidarity of the Irish workers forced Ford to extend the same severance agreement to workers in Enfield and Basildon.

While the Belfast plant will close, the settlement gives workers far more than what Visteon originally offered. “If we would have walked out, we would have never have gotten [this] far,” Maxwell observed. “We are now a conscience for community action. ... People have been so kind. There’s people who will be loathe to see the end of this occupation because it’s been such a way of sticking together. It’s given us a focus on life.” (www.indymedia.ie, April 27)

As of this writing, the occupation was continuing, with workers refusing to leave until they have their money in hand.