Friday 10 April 2009

Visteon workers end their occupation but the fight goes on... Now, what shall we occupy next?

The Visteon workers at Enfield ended their week-long occupation on the advice of their union Unite - and, I imagine, due to some fatigue! They continue picketing the factory so that the supposedly bankrupt Visteon UK cannot move machinery out to start up somewhere else or move a new workforce in - on lower pay. Both of these are rumoured possibilities.

The workers might have continued their occupation if it had sparked similiar radical action against job cuts elsewhere, but that is not how people's mood stands. The occupation showed other people one way to fight but could not inspire them to fight - not yet.

I've posted some of my Visteon pictures here.

A group has been set up to carry on the already considerable and still much needed support shown to Visteon workers. Find it here (a temporary home).

On Wednesday 9,000 job losses were announced in Royal Bank of Scotland.

I had a momentary fantasy of the government having poured billions into the banking system to keep it going only for angry bank workers - not to be confused with bankers - threatened with the sack paralysing the industry through strikes and bank occupations. As a schizophrenic friend of mine, wildly scenario-mongering, says: 'It could happen, it could happen!' But only in his dreams.

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