Ford
Support the Ford Visteon workers' occupation - leaflet
Leaflet of workers occupying the Ford Visteon factory in Enfield, north London. A ready-to-print copy is attached at the bottom.
We have occupied our factory Ford Visteon workers have occupied our factory since Wednesday 1st April. The previous day in a meeting lasting just 6 minutes we were told that the European company, with plants in Belfast, Basildon and Ponders End, Enfield, was going into administration and that we were to leave - without our wages being paid.
Audio interview with Visteon occupier
Audio interview with Unite convenor at the occupied Visteon plant in Belfast, John McGuire.
Download the audio interview here: http://www.indymedia.ie/attachments/apr2009/workers_occupation.mp3
Visteon occupation photo gallery, Enfield, 2009
Photo gallery of the occupation of a Visteon car parts factory in Enfield, north London, after 200 workers were sacked without redundancy pay.
Car factory occupations spread across the UK
Sacked workers from the car parts firm Visteon have been occupying three factories across the UK since Wednesday.
The action began with an overnight sit-in at the Visteon plant in Belfast and employees are continuing their protest at the factory. More than 100 workers have staged a sit-in, the Unite trade union has said. Earlier, it was announced that 565 staff would go at Visteon car components plants across the UK.
Car industry: more attacks on jobs and pay
A new wave of redundancies and pay cuts hits car manufacturing in the UK, as companies aim to take back the cost of the recession from the workforce.
Ford are looking to axe 7% of its UK workforce, with nearly half of the staff at its Southampton Transit plant lined up to go. The company is also seeking to renege on the pay deal of 5.2% agreed with the unions, as it seeks to fund the redundancy packages from the pay of the workers.
Wave of strikes and agreements in Brazilian car industry
Workers at major car industry plants in Brazil went on strike during September in support of their demands for improved pay.
On September 1, workers at the Volkswagen-Audi factory in the city of Curitiba began a one-week strike. Workers at the Volvo and Renault/Nissan plants in the same town also went on strike on the same day.
During that week, 24-hour strikes occurred at Ford, General Motors, Toyota, Mercedes Benz and Scania in cities in the interior of Sao Paulo state.
Workers' struggles and the development of Ford in Britain
This essay by Ferruccio Gambino first appeared in the book Operai e Stato (Feltrinelli, 1972). It was translated into English and published by Red Notes in 1976 as their first pamphlet. The PDF file is in 2 parts, both about 4MB.
Making a killing - Christian Dewar
Article detailing links between big business and the Nazi regime during World War II.
Many Americans are probably not aware of the great extent to which U.S. corporations collaborated with the Nazi war machine during WWII. Ultimately, the international corporations, the lawyers, bankers and financiers who collaborated with the Nazis prevailed. They exerted tremendous influence to thwart investigators delving into their seditious activities after the war.
Belgium: car workers refuse union compromise
Strikers at car firm SLM refused to vote on an agreement made by unions, judging the salary increase to be too low.
120 of the 200 striking workers at SLM, a Ford subcontractor in Gent, refused to participate in the vote.
Fellow strikers at another subcontractor, Lear Corporations, also found the agreement totally unsatisfactory and also refused to vote on the plan.
Canada: Wildcat strike in solidarity with sacked auto workers
Workers at a plant in Guelph, Ontario struck on Saturday in support of sacked Toronto car employees occupying their plant for severance pay.
The Guelph Mercury reported that auto workers at Guelph Products Collins & Aikman went on a wildcat strike Saturday to support workers at a Toronto plant pushing for severance pay for 200 laid-off workers.
Nearly 75 of the Guelph plant's staff walked off the job around 3:30 p.m. and management barricaded the turnstile entrances with chains and steel bars so the workers couldn't re-enter.
