‘WE ARE deeply insulted and more determined than ever to carry on the fight,’ Enfield Visteon factory Unite convenor Kevin Nolan told News Line yesterday.
He was referring to the ‘offer’ from Visteon management at talks on Wednesday of approximately £8,000 before tax in lieu of pay to the sacked Visteon workers at the plants in Enfield, Basildon and Belfast.
Nolan added: ‘All they offered was pay in lieu, which legally they should be giving anyway.
‘That is just a few thousand pounds.
‘What they said is they would also set up a fund – when they’ve sold the assets, if there is money left, it could go into the fund to pay us redundancy.
‘We don’t see how that would give us any redundancy pay.
‘The biggest asset, the land, was sold off about two years ago.
‘What else is left would be taken by creditors.
‘I can’t see there would be anything left for us, so we are going to carry on our fight.
‘We will be stepping up our protests.
‘The resolve of our members is strong.
‘Belfast are still occupying. They said the offer was a disgrace.
‘In the talks, I told Dorothy Stephenson (Visteon Worldwide Human Resources Chief) that “at the next meeting I’ll bring my three children and perhaps you can feed them’’.
‘I told her: “You sacked 600 people and that has put their homes at risk and they cannot care for their families’’.
‘I told her Visteon did not have to do this because they’ve got money and they could have done the honourable thing and given us a decent redundancy package in line with employees who have gone on voluntary redundancies with Ford and Visteon.’
He added: ‘It wasn’t really an offer; Visteon just said this is what they are going to do.
‘Unite said the offer is a disgrace.
‘Tony Woodley is trying to get hold of Fleming, Ford director for Europe, to set up a meeting with Ford and Visteon.
‘And we are looking for other unions to support us and picket Ford dealerships and factories.’
Unite member Kay Grundy said: ‘We feel gutted about what they’ve done.
‘But it doesn’t surprise us as they have been double-dealing all along.
‘All they have offered us is 13-weeks’ pay in lieu of notice which is a legal requirement anyway.
‘There’s been no talk of terms and conditions.’
Fellow Unite member Jill Howard added: ‘Unite are trying to get talks between Visteon and Ford but we haven’t heard anything.
‘It was noticeable that a few weeks ago Ford said it had obligations to us.
‘Then Visteon went into administration.
‘We all knew our jobs were in jeopardy but we are angry at the cold, callous and calculated way it’s been done.’
Kay added: ‘We’d love our jobs back but we know Visteon are after the moulding tools, especially from Enfield.
‘These are used to make components for Jaguar, Land Rover and Ford Transit.
‘On the Friday before they shut us, Jaguar sent in for some of their small tools.
‘Everyone knew but us that we were going to be sacked.
‘We first heard it from Sky News.’
Another Unite member, Maureen Kerr, said: ‘I’m upset about the setting up of Visteon Engineering Services as a separate company.
‘This employed the directors and higher managers.
‘So when Visteon UK went into administration, they were not affected.
‘They are getting paid packages and a lot of them will keep their jobs.’
