KEVIN Nolan and Piers Hood, the Unite convenor and deputy-convenor at the Visteon plant in Enfield, appeared in the High Court in the Strand yesterday.
There was a demonstration outside the court.
Miles Hubbard, the senior regional organiser of Unite, for London and East Anglia, told News Line: ‘The Visteon workers were told by Ford that their terms and conditions would be protected if they applied to work for Visteon.
‘They are now being told the company’s gone into liquidation and there won’t be enhanced redundancies.’
The protesters were carrying placards, saying: ‘Don’t jail Kevin, don’t jail Piers’, with a banner saying ‘Jobs not jail’.
Steve Hart, Unite regional secretary, told News Line: ‘The procedures are about two issues: possession of the factory and failure to comply with a previous eviction order for which KPMG is seeking the committal of Kevin and Piers and one other.’
During the morning, Judge Mr Justice Lewison took minor cases first.
As he was coming up to take the Visteon case, another lawyer representing another case, who had arrived in court late, apologised and was asked how long his case would take.
He told the judge an hour. The judge said that Visteon was the next case and asked the Visteon counsel how long he would need.
The Visteon counsel replied: ‘An hour, we are still talking to the other side.’
The judge then said he would break and ‘whichever of you is ready, I will take first.’
He then adjourned the court for an hour.
Unite regional secretary Steve Hart confirmed to News Line: ‘Our lawyer is talking to the Visteon lawyer prior to going into court and the Visteon lawyer is seeking instructions from their client.’
Hart also confirmed that Kevin Nolan ‘if he is free, will be going to America to see Ford, along with Derek Simpson and National Officer Roger Maddison.’
The court adjourned at just after 12 noon, and discussions between lawyers took place in the nearby consultation room.
At around 12.20pm, the court usher told News Line that the hearing would now resume at 2pm as the lawyers said they needed another 20-25 minutes and the court breaks for lunch at 1pm.
On resumption, counsel for Visteon, James Hanham QC, said: ‘We’ve settled both company court orders, with undertakings by both sides and an undertaking given by the administrator who is present in the court.’
Counsel for the Unite trade union, Andrew Stafford QC, said: ‘Unite, this is unusual, the union is giving an undertaking, not the defendants.’
Hanham said: ‘The defendants are to give up possession of the property, given a writ for possession.’
Judge Lewison asked: ‘How can you enforce an order against persons unknown?’
Stafford replied: ‘Those people in the premises are forced to be members of Unite.
‘The union has authority over them. They can be ordered not to damage the property and to vacate the property.’
With that, the judge accepted the agreement and ended the hearing.
Outside the court, Hart told waiting supporters: ‘We went in with (receivers) KPMG seeking to jail the convenor, Kevin Nolan.
‘We had a brilliant success.
‘Kevin is now going to New York to meet with senior management of Visteon.
‘The occupation continues until after the talks on Wednesday.’
Hart clarified to News Line that he expected the occupation to end on Thursday.
Kevin Nolan said outside the court: ‘I’d like to thank you all on behalf of myself and the 600 workers for the fantastic support you’ve shown us.
‘If you stand up you will not be defeated.
‘You have to see it through to the end.
‘We never asked to be in this position.
‘They put 600 British workers out of a job. They treated us disgustingly.
‘It was a back door move to deny us our pensions and our pay. We’ve had enough of that.
‘Mandelson says the auto industry is just a rumour – are 600 jobs a rumour?
‘We want respect, treat people the right way.
‘I’m leaving with Derek Simpson in the morning. We were going to jail.
‘The union got the best lawyers, the legal team was brilliant.’
He added: ‘Up and down the country, not just about where we work, it’s about treating workers with respect.
‘They keep trying to kick us, so it’s about time – we’re not going to take it any more.’
Piers Hood told News Line: ‘We’re hoping Kevin will come back Thursday and they’ll put something on the table.
‘We’ll continue the occupation until Thursday at least.’
Asked by reporters would he be going back to join the occupation last night, Piers replied: ‘No. If I go back, I’ll be straight in prison.
‘Today, we’ve got them to leave us alone.’
He confirmed to News Line that if he or Kevin Nolan went back on the premises ‘we’d be arrested’.
