New Events

Antrim

no events posted in last week

Blog Feeds

Public Inquiry
Interested in maladministration. Estd. 2005

offsite link RTEs Sarah McInerney ? Fianna Fail?supporter? Anthony

offsite link Joe Duffy is dishonest and untrustworthy Anthony

offsite link Robert Watt complaint: Time for decision by SIPO Anthony

offsite link RTE in breach of its own editorial principles Anthony

offsite link Waiting for SIPO Anthony

Public Inquiry >>

Human Rights in Ireland
Promoting Human Rights in Ireland

Human Rights in Ireland >>

Lockdown Skeptics

The Daily Sceptic

offsite link Starmer?s Palestinian Pledge Exposes the West?s Moral Collapse Thu Jul 31, 2025 15:05 | Laura Perrins
The fact that either Britain or France would recognise a Palestinian state while Hamas still holds hostages sums up the moral rot at the heart of Europe, says Laura Perrins.
The post Starmer?s Palestinian Pledge Exposes the West?s Moral Collapse appeared first on The Daily Sceptic.

offsite link ?Muhammad? Tops Baby Name Charts Again Thu Jul 31, 2025 13:00 | Richard Eldred
Muhammad is once again the most popular baby name for boys in England and Wales, in a year marked by a growing trend towards global, cross-cultural naming.
The post ?Muhammad? Tops Baby Name Charts Again appeared first on The Daily Sceptic.

offsite link White House Warns Starmer: Stop Threatening US Tech Companies? Free Speech Thu Jul 31, 2025 11:00 | Toby Young
It looks increasingly likely that the sweeping censorship powers granted to Ofcom by the Online Safety Act will be raised in US-UK trade talks, as the Trump administration becomes increasingly concerned.
The post White House Warns Starmer: Stop Threatening US Tech Companies? Free Speech appeared first on The Daily Sceptic.

offsite link Mainstream Naysayers Gather As Hopes Rise for Fourth Year of Record Coral on the Great Barrier Reef Thu Jul 31, 2025 09:00 | Chris Morrison
Despite three record years of coral growth, the mainstream media keeps pushing doom and gloom on the Great Barrier Reef ? a story that doesn't quite add up, says the Daily Sceptic's Environment Editor.
The post Mainstream Naysayers Gather As Hopes Rise for Fourth Year of Record Coral on the Great Barrier Reef appeared first on The Daily Sceptic.

offsite link Unless Migrant Crime Is Happening to Them Personally, Many Brits Simply Refuse to Believe It Even Ex... Thu Jul 31, 2025 07:00 | Steven Tucker
Britain's migrant crimewave is only invisible to those living in leafy delusion ? just ask Steven Tucker, who rips into the blind elites mistaking burning mattresses for cultural enrichment.
The post Unless Migrant Crime Is Happening to Them Personally, Many Brits Simply Refuse to Believe It Even Exists ? Especially Our Blinkered Rulers appeared first on The Daily Sceptic.

Lockdown Skeptics >>

Voltaire Network
Voltaire, international edition

offsite link Will intergovernmental institutions withstand the end of the "American Empire"?,... Sat Apr 05, 2025 07:15 | en

offsite link Voltaire, International Newsletter N?127 Sat Apr 05, 2025 06:38 | en

offsite link Disintegration of Western democracy begins in France Sat Apr 05, 2025 06:00 | en

offsite link Voltaire, International Newsletter N?126 Fri Mar 28, 2025 11:39 | en

offsite link The International Conference on Combating Anti-Semitism by Amichai Chikli and Na... Fri Mar 28, 2025 11:31 | en

Voltaire Network >>

Direct Action Gets the Goods: Visteon Occupation Pays Off

category antrim | worker & community struggles and protests | news report author Thursday July 09, 2009 16:50author by Alan MacSimóin - WSM - Workers Solidarity 110author email wsm_ireland at yahoo dot com Report this post to the editors

The occupation of the Visteon motor parts factory in Belfast ended on May 3rd when the company gave in and agreed pay extra compensation of between six month’s and nearly two year’s money to the workforce for the loss of their jobs.
visteon.jpg

On April 1st workers, members of the UNITE trade union, were given just six minutes notice that the plant was closing down. The agreement that everyone would get the same terms as Ford workers if there were redundancies was torn up by management. There was nothing on offer, just an instruction to clear out lockers and go away. Workers, many of whom had given decades of service, were going to get only basic statutory redundancy money.

Visteon is moving production to countries with weak unions and very low pay, their only interest in Belfast (and the English plants at Basildown and Enfield) was as assets to be sold. The occupation, on its own, would have only been an irritation to management. However, talk of Ford workers refusing to handle any parts that had previously been supplied by the closed factories, worried management sufficiently to get them into talks.

Now it is true that the workforce didn’t get their jobs back. Occupations by relatively small factories in a recession-hit industry were not going to be able to achieve that. But the workers did walk away with between six months and almost two year’s extra money. They would not have got that by writing to MPs, signing petitions or “using the industrial relations machinery of the state”. It was when they decided to take direct action that they put themselves into a position where they could look for solidarity and exert real pressure on their bosses.

Visteon was a victory, militancy was shown to pay. Roger Madison of UNITE said “they’ve only been offered this because of the actions taken, to lock themselves in a plant for nearly a month. It’s refreshing - it’s old-fashioned trade unionism.” If we want to create a different political climate where working people have the confidence to stand up for themselves, this is exactly the sort of action we need to encourage.

Related Link: http://www.wsm.ie
© 2001-2025 Independent Media Centre Ireland. Unless otherwise stated by the author, all content is free for non-commercial reuse, reprint, and rebroadcast, on the net and elsewhere. Opinions are those of the contributors and are not necessarily endorsed by Independent Media Centre Ireland. Disclaimer | Privacy