Pogue
18th May 2009, 20:30
Well, today was the last day of the Visteon Picket. The guys had left the factory a few weeks earlier but the picket had been maintained up until today. Basically, some of the demands of the workers have been met, but theres some elgal stuff to do with pensions still in the balance, but they seem quite certain that their going to get it all.
Most of the people I spoke to seem to regard it as a victory. There was alot of positive talk from our perspective I was hearing, with people saying how disgusted they are with the reformist, TUC unions. One worker told me they thought the TUC unions were too comfortable with the bosses and were not for the people anymore. This struggle has clearly demonstrated to these people their position in class struggle, I think.
I hope that maybe me and some others could post a complete summary of the struggle on here in its entirety so that cormades can see how it went from start to finish. A few of us from RevLeft when to the site at various times during the occupation and picket so we have alot of information on it, which we could try and put together for you. Theres been a pamphlet been put together about it which I have, its quite big but was published before the end of the affair oddly, so I think it'll be updated, but at the moemnt its called Ford Visteon Enfield Workers Occupation - an eyewitness account and first thoughts by Alan Woodward. It costs £3-00 and you can buy it in Freedom Press in East London, if you really wanted too. All the money goes (went?) to the dispute fund, I miagine it'll go somewhere valuable now. I think it could be a good summary of the events (I haven't read it all yet and as I said, it was published before the conclusion of the struggle).
I think this struggle was a good experience. I was pleased to be involved, although I was by no means the most involved person. I know some people who were there nearly everyday supporting the workers, and I'll let other members post their experiences of that. But I went down there when I could, and it was quite cool to be there for a while for one of the last pickets and chat to people there. It was an educational experience for me, everyone involved and most importantly the workers there, who I doubt will ever look at work and politics the same way again, especially having been exposed to all of us radicals! I hope this struggle is just the beginning of a workers fightback against attacks from the bosses and sets the standard for workers in future struggles. Most of the workers here saw this as a victory as they certainly left with more than they would have if they had previously simply caved in and accepted what the bosses had done for them when they were sacked in an instant.
(Link to article in local press: http://www.enfieldindependent.co.uk/news/4377641.Visteon_protest_finally_ends_with_a_bitter sweet_march_to_the_pub/)
Anyway, as I said I think we could get a better, more comprehensive report/evaluation up soon but for now heres some pictures from the last day:
http://by121w.bay121.mail.live.com/att/GetAttachment.aspx?tnail=0&messageId=c66790cd-32bd-42b9-abed-39a0952594ef&Aux=0|0|8CBA63F72829E80|
http://by121w.bay121.mail.live.com/att/GetAttachment.aspx?tnail=1&messageId=c66790cd-32bd-42b9-abed-39a0952594ef&Aux=0|0|8CBA63F72829E80|
http://by121w.bay121.mail.live.com/att/GetAttachment.aspx?tnail=2&messageId=c66790cd-32bd-42b9-abed-39a0952594ef&Aux=0|0|8CBA63F72829E80|
http://by121w.bay121.mail.live.com/att/GetAttachment.aspx?tnail=3&messageId=c66790cd-32bd-42b9-abed-39a0952594ef&Aux=0|0|8CBA63F72829E80|
Most of the people I spoke to seem to regard it as a victory. There was alot of positive talk from our perspective I was hearing, with people saying how disgusted they are with the reformist, TUC unions. One worker told me they thought the TUC unions were too comfortable with the bosses and were not for the people anymore. This struggle has clearly demonstrated to these people their position in class struggle, I think.
I hope that maybe me and some others could post a complete summary of the struggle on here in its entirety so that cormades can see how it went from start to finish. A few of us from RevLeft when to the site at various times during the occupation and picket so we have alot of information on it, which we could try and put together for you. Theres been a pamphlet been put together about it which I have, its quite big but was published before the end of the affair oddly, so I think it'll be updated, but at the moemnt its called Ford Visteon Enfield Workers Occupation - an eyewitness account and first thoughts by Alan Woodward. It costs £3-00 and you can buy it in Freedom Press in East London, if you really wanted too. All the money goes (went?) to the dispute fund, I miagine it'll go somewhere valuable now. I think it could be a good summary of the events (I haven't read it all yet and as I said, it was published before the conclusion of the struggle).
I think this struggle was a good experience. I was pleased to be involved, although I was by no means the most involved person. I know some people who were there nearly everyday supporting the workers, and I'll let other members post their experiences of that. But I went down there when I could, and it was quite cool to be there for a while for one of the last pickets and chat to people there. It was an educational experience for me, everyone involved and most importantly the workers there, who I doubt will ever look at work and politics the same way again, especially having been exposed to all of us radicals! I hope this struggle is just the beginning of a workers fightback against attacks from the bosses and sets the standard for workers in future struggles. Most of the workers here saw this as a victory as they certainly left with more than they would have if they had previously simply caved in and accepted what the bosses had done for them when they were sacked in an instant.
(Link to article in local press: http://www.enfieldindependent.co.uk/news/4377641.Visteon_protest_finally_ends_with_a_bitter sweet_march_to_the_pub/)
Anyway, as I said I think we could get a better, more comprehensive report/evaluation up soon but for now heres some pictures from the last day:
http://by121w.bay121.mail.live.com/att/GetAttachment.aspx?tnail=0&messageId=c66790cd-32bd-42b9-abed-39a0952594ef&Aux=0|0|8CBA63F72829E80|
http://by121w.bay121.mail.live.com/att/GetAttachment.aspx?tnail=1&messageId=c66790cd-32bd-42b9-abed-39a0952594ef&Aux=0|0|8CBA63F72829E80|
http://by121w.bay121.mail.live.com/att/GetAttachment.aspx?tnail=2&messageId=c66790cd-32bd-42b9-abed-39a0952594ef&Aux=0|0|8CBA63F72829E80|
http://by121w.bay121.mail.live.com/att/GetAttachment.aspx?tnail=3&messageId=c66790cd-32bd-42b9-abed-39a0952594ef&Aux=0|0|8CBA63F72829E80|