Visteon collapse hammers home crisis engulfing manufacturing
31 March 2009
Unite warned that the closure today (Tuesday) of the Visteon
plants at Belfast, Basildon and Enfield once again pointed up the
desperate problems besetting UK manufacturing, and hammered home
again the need for strategic governmental support for the sector.
The plants were put into administration at midday today, with the
loss of approximately 600 jobs across three UK sites.
Tony Woodley, joint general secretary of Unite, said: "The loss
today of another significant tier one supplier in manufacturing
underscores the magnitude of the crisis engulfing our manufacturing
sector.
"This is a personal tragedy for each and every one of these
workers. Hundreds of families across in Belfast, Basildon and
Enfield are now staring at a bleak future on the dole, and workers
desperately need assurances that their skills and service will not
go to waste or be lost to this country.
"This is yet a further reminder that twenty thousand
manufacturing jobs have disappeared since the economic slump took
hold. Our manufacturing sector is in crisis. It needs serious
strategic and financial help, and it needs it now."
Roger Maddison, Unite's national officer for the automotive
sector, attacked the ease with which the workers could be sacked:
"We are bitterly disappointed with today's news. Within minutes
these workers' working world collapsed around them. Once again we
see how cheap and easy it is to sack UK workers. One minute they
were working but six minutes later they were jobless, pensionless
and looking at the state basic in redundancy pay as their company
was placed into administration. This is no way to treat a loyal
workforce.
"Some of these workers have spent all their working life, in one
case forty years, at this company and helped it through some tough
times. Their reward has been to have their job extinguished
at the stroke of an administrator's pen. This is no way to treat
people who've given their life to Visteon and Ford before them. At
the very least these companies owe these workers fair treatment and
a bit more money to help them through the tough times ahead, and
this union has vowed to fight tooth and nail to secure this for
them."
ENDS
For further information contact Pauline Doyle on 07976 832
861
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