House of Commons set to ask questions of Ford and Visteon over
sacking of 600 workers
30th April 2009
The fight for justice for the 600 Visteon workers sacked last
month with only moment's notice will come to the House of Commons
today (Thursday) when Basildon MP Angela Smith leads an emergency
debate on the conduct of the company and its main contractor,
Ford.
Ms Smith will pose a series of far-reaching questions relating
to events in the run up to the shock closure of Visteon's three
plants in Basildon, Enfield and Belfast in March, which resulted in
the dismissal of the workforce without redundancy pay and fears
that the workers' pensions are also been lost.
Unite the union has stated that it believes Visteon systematically
ran down its UK operations over a period of time, with the full
knowledge of its main UK contractor, Ford.
Ahead of the debate, which is set for early evening, Angela
Smith MP said: “Those who worked for Visteon are angry, and I am
angry. My constituents are loyal, hardworking employees yet the
treatment meted out to them by Visteon has been shameful.
"My dad worked for Ford-Visteon for 30 years. He was sickened,
as am I, that working people can be treated so badly by their
employers. Visteon and Ford have some serious questions to answer
about how they slipped their responsibilities to this
workforce.
"It is right and proper that parliament gives full scrutiny to
their actions and helps win justice for these workers and their
families."
Angela Smith will be raising questions relating to both
companies' conduct, including:
- Was Project Protea set up to ensure that a "mirror" plant was
established to provide an alternative source of the same products
to UK clients, including Ford?
- Why did Visteon directors set up a separate company, Automotive
Holdings Ltd in February 2009?
- What was Visteon's rationale for operating at a heavy loss for
such a long period of time?
- Why is Ford reluctant to acknowledge its responsibility towards
the workforce, despite working practices which demonstrate a strong
relationship between the Ford and Visteon
workforces?
- With the administrator, KPMG, confirming that the pension
scheme is now in deficit, will the pensions' regulator conduct an
immediate inquiry into the management of the scheme?
Unite is pursuing compensation for the sacked workers, or for
jobs to be found at Ford, stating that with in excess of $1 billion
in the bank, Visteon can easily afford to do the right thing.
Unite joint general secretary, Tony Woodley, said: “This callous
behaviour has to be challenged, so it is right that Angela Smith
brings this to the attention of parliament. Both Visteon and Ford
could end the misery they have jointly inflicted on these workers
in an instant by acting to compensate them fully. Make no
mistake, we will pursue vigorously both Visteon and Ford until they
do."
Unite joint general secretary, Derek Simpson, said: “Visteon has
thrown our members on the dole, plunged their pensions into
uncertainty and denied them redundancy pay that is rightfully
theirs.
“I say to Visteon and Ford, you cannot wash your hands of these
workers - do the decent thing by the workers and their families.
Secure them work and compensate them justly for sacking them in
such an atrocious manner.”
ENDS
For further information, contact Pauline Doyle in the Unite
press office on 07976 832 861 or Kevin Flack in Angela Smith's
office via 020 7219 3000.
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