A union worker last night barricaded himself in his office after he was sacked for empathising with laid off Visteon workers.
Rob Williams was acting union covenor at the Swansea Linamar plant, formerly a Visteon plant, which is part owned by Visteon bosses Stephen Gawne and Len Drury.
Williams was sacked yesterday after it emerged that he had travelled to Essex to support Visteon workers on a march through Basildon town centre.
The company blamed the dismissal on a 'breakdown of trust and confidence'.
Outraged by the ludicrous grounds upon which he was dismissed, Williams locked himself in his covenor's office.
In a show of solidarity, day workers at the plant left their jobs.
According to the Newshound's man on the ground, police were still attempting to forcibly eject Williams from the premises at 10pm last night.
Mahalo!
The Lowly Newshound
Showing posts with label basildon. Show all posts
Showing posts with label basildon. Show all posts
April 29, 2009
April 14, 2009
Local newspaper picks up on Newshound's Visteon exclusive
Essex newspaper 'The Echo' today picked up on the Newshound's exclusive story about how Visteon tricked Basildon workers into an extra hour's labour on the day that they were made redundant.
Award winning reporter Jon Austin mentioned the extra labour in his report about Visteon workers' protest march through Basildon's town centre on Saturday morning.
However, The Echo, constrained by libel laws, could not print the allegation in full, ie. that the surplus stock was never accounted for and was allegedly to be sold under the radar of the Inland Revenue.
The story did not appear in full on the newspaper's website, but appeared in the newspaper's Basildon edition on Monday 13th April.
Award winning reporter Jon Austin mentioned the extra labour in his report about Visteon workers' protest march through Basildon's town centre on Saturday morning.
However, The Echo, constrained by libel laws, could not print the allegation in full, ie. that the surplus stock was never accounted for and was allegedly to be sold under the radar of the Inland Revenue.
The story did not appear in full on the newspaper's website, but appeared in the newspaper's Basildon edition on Monday 13th April.
April 12, 2009
Basildon Visteon plant housing secret stock; Workers cheated into surplus labour
As Friday became Saturday, and clubbers and party-goers at Basildon's Festival Leisure Park celebrated the Easter weekend, few paused to remember that roughly one mile away a handful of unemployed labourers huddled around a makeshift bonfire.
But rather than spending Easter Friday in a busy nightclub, the Newshound whiled away the wee hours of yesterday morning on the picket line outside the town's now notorious 'Visteon' plant.
Axed Visteon workers, who supplied car radiators to Ford for over 45 years, have been picketing the building since they were made redundant on Tuesday 31st March.
Workers were given no notice of their redundancy and were told that they would not receive the severance packages that their contracts guaranteed them.
The Newshound can now exclusively reveal that on Tuesday 31st March, the day that the company went into administration, office staff at the plant were ejected from the premises at noon. Company computers were swiftly shut down.
However, manual labourers were ordered to continue producing stock for another hour.
Workers were not paid for the extra hour, meaning that their labour went unaccounted for, and the absence of office staff ensured that the surplus radiators were never logged either.
Echo reporter Jon Austin last week revealed that company director Stephen Gawne is planning to re-open the firm under a new name, scrap the existing Ford contracts and employ cheap labourers from Eastern Europe.
Speculation at the plant is that the secret stash of radiators was to be sold, under the radar of the Inland Revenue, to tide Gawne over until his plan came to fruition.
However, protestors have stymied the rumoured plot by blocking both major entrances to the plant for the last fortnight, making it impossible to shift the radiators from the premises.
Stay tuned for a full account and exclusive pictures of the Newshound's time on the picket line.
But rather than spending Easter Friday in a busy nightclub, the Newshound whiled away the wee hours of yesterday morning on the picket line outside the town's now notorious 'Visteon' plant.
Axed Visteon workers, who supplied car radiators to Ford for over 45 years, have been picketing the building since they were made redundant on Tuesday 31st March.
Workers were given no notice of their redundancy and were told that they would not receive the severance packages that their contracts guaranteed them.
The Newshound can now exclusively reveal that on Tuesday 31st March, the day that the company went into administration, office staff at the plant were ejected from the premises at noon. Company computers were swiftly shut down.
However, manual labourers were ordered to continue producing stock for another hour.
Workers were not paid for the extra hour, meaning that their labour went unaccounted for, and the absence of office staff ensured that the surplus radiators were never logged either.
Echo reporter Jon Austin last week revealed that company director Stephen Gawne is planning to re-open the firm under a new name, scrap the existing Ford contracts and employ cheap labourers from Eastern Europe.
Speculation at the plant is that the secret stash of radiators was to be sold, under the radar of the Inland Revenue, to tide Gawne over until his plan came to fruition.
However, protestors have stymied the rumoured plot by blocking both major entrances to the plant for the last fortnight, making it impossible to shift the radiators from the premises.
Stay tuned for a full account and exclusive pictures of the Newshound's time on the picket line.
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