Former car parts workers at the Visteon plants in Belfast, Basildon and Enfield have rejected a "derisory" offer of cash payments from their former employer, according to BBC News Northern Ireland. The Ford car parts maker Visteon Corporation has said most employees would receive a cash payment equivalent to 16 weeks pay.
A Unite union spokesman said that it added "insult to injury.". A Visteon spokesman said that as well as the immediate cash payment - "Over time additional payments would be made increasing their total severance package to the approximate amounts they would have received under their most recent contract."
The protesting car parts workers in Belfast and Enfield have staged factory sit-ins to highlight their situation. The Unite union spokesman said that the sit-ins had forced the company to the negotiating table as it wanted to sell the stock that was sitting in the factories.
"It may well be that our fight has to move on to Ford, but the sit-in is important at the moment," Unite spokesman Roger Madison said. However a Ford spokesman said that the company has no responsibility for former Visteon workers - "Since 2000, Visteon has been an independent company supplying parts to Ford. Ford has no contractual or other responsibility towards the Visteon UK workforce. The decision made regarding the plants in Belfast, Basildon and Enfield was made by Visteon's management and not by Ford Motor Company. Ford has acted responsibly and met, or exceeded, its commitments under the Visteon agreement of 2000."
In the mean time, some former car part plant workers have staged peaceful protests outside the homes of Visteon managers in Lisburn and Downpatrick. Pickets were held on Monday and again on Wednesday. Nearly 600 jobs were lost at the three car part plants - 210 in Belfast - with staff being given less than an hour's notice.
The workers said that they were given pay and conditions guarantees when the company was split from Ford nine years ago, and will only leave when they are offered an adequate deal. Former car parts plant workers in Northern Ireland also picketed Ford showrooms over the Easter weekend as well as staging a sit-in at the Visteon plant in Finaghy.
This report compiled by Find a Part - Car Parts Search Specialists since 1978.
