Kevin Nolan,the Unite convener at the Enfield Visteon plant, spoke of. how originally the company only offered pay in lieu of notice but the union was trying to get that anyway – It's what they owed us,” anyway he said.

“We were in shock. I could understand it if the whole company had gone bankrupt but it hadn’t. I told Dorothy Stephenson [senior vice president of human resources at Visteon] that I should have brought my daughters to the meeting so she could explain how she was going to feed them.

“People felt let down though they had come to expect such things from the company, but were determined not to give up
Then he told of the occupation decision and the various strategies The administrators tried and how apparently the police were less than enthusiastic in enforcing their will at the Enfield plant

He also spoke of appearing in court and how if convicted, could have been in jailed over the ‘illegal’ occupation of the plant He was acquitted with union legal representation The Unite trade union however agreed to the courts to end the occupation of the Visteon factory in Enfield.

In the end they won a substantial financial package with the offer was up to 52 weeks from 39, at shift rate not basic day rate, and the Ford pay rise (which Visteon workers should have got but didn't) backdated to November but despite the revised offer workers at Enfield and Basildon are still holding 24-hour pickets of their sites to stop the administrator KPMG from removing any of the equipment till the money is in their bank accounts and still intend to continue to fight on the pensions

Carolyn Jones, Director of IER spoke of the need for better regulation of company law and workplace practices and how the Government and current system protected those at the top whilst those who produced the wealth were discarded as cheaply as possible She spoke of the need for proposals to bring economic stability based on fairness, justice and equality and not just bailing out failing companies

NUJ General Secretary Jeremy Dear gave a strong speech, castigating the Labour party for its mealy mouthed and ineffectual defence of peoples jobs, being more concerned in helping out its useless Banker pals with the wealth working people had created, whilst only waiting for an opportunity to restore to the status quo the lavish lifestyles and wealth they have been forced to currently curtail (publically at least)

He lauded the recent radical action by Visteon workers and their occupation of the Enfeild Belfast, and Basildon car-parts factories and the significant concessions extracted from the bosses, stating it certainly proves that taking radical action gets results and cited the examples of the French workers who held Management representatives hostage

There was talk of the proposal he would be presenting to the TUC! Even if it was accepted I venture little more than lip service would be paid to it for unfortunately the TUC juggernaut has no intention of braking speed with its useless refried tired frayed and coming apart at the seam policies any day soon
But still in all a good speech, spoken with the conviction that is quite lacking in other union leaders

Last up was Clare Short Who has gone greeeeen well judging by the amount of times she used the word anyway! I can’t remember much of the content of her speech but it started something like "Just imagine if everyone in China had a car They would need more oil than there is in the world"

Sorry Clare But I thought China's problem's were mainly to do with coal pollution and I'm more concerned with negotiating a pushchair past or tripping over the three and four car family cars parked on the pavement around the streets of Birmingham and running the gauntlet with on pavement drivers possessing apparent immunity from prosecution, than what might be in your China fantasy land

So there I was Even after having escaped to the back of Transport Houses hall with Clare still rattling Green, Green, Green, Green and Green like an automatic stapler

Copyright Stalingrad O'Neill - permission is required for third party usage