Get a whole year of cutting-edge eco-building news for just £24.00 pa.
Built upon 30 years of experience, this fabulous new medium will feature inspiring and in-depth articles on eco-building projects from across the spectrum and from all over the UK, most of which are written by the very people that designed or built them. Perfect for architects, builders, developers, self builders and anyone interested in keeping right up-to-date with green building trends and friends.
For subscription options:
please go here
|
|
|
Vestas sit in continues despite sackings |
|
 
|
|
|
|
29 Jul 2009, 2:01 PM
|
A sit in by workers at the Vestas wind turbine factory on the Isle of Wight is continuing and the firm has threatened to take the protesters to court in an attempt to force them to leave the building.
|
Around 25 workers have been occupying the offices since 20 July, when the Danish company announced it would be closing the factory, resulting in a loss of 625 jobs. On Tuesday, the firm sacked 11 employees who had taken part in the sit in.
It will now apply for a possession order to remove the remaining workers from the site. If it is successful, Vestas will be able to request a warrant to evict the protesters.
Despite being the world's largest turbine producer, the firm claims that lack of demand for wind turbines in Northern Europe is forcing it to cut 1,900 jobs, mainly in the UK and Denmark.
It plans to completely close its UK manufacturing plant on the Isle of Wight. Vestas said that that demand for wind turbines does not match supply levels, despite government drives to boost renewable energy.
However, despite the fall in demand, the firm has reported a 70% rise in quarterly profit and a 59% rise in quarterly sales. Profit rose to €56m (£50m) for the first three months of 2009, up from €33m for the same period last year. Quarterly sales hit €1.11bn.
Although the workers are not union members, trade unionists have joined calls to keep the factory open, alongside environmentalists. On Tuesday evening, the Rail, Maritime and Transport Workers (RMT) union organised a protest outside the Department of Energy and Climate Change in London.
One protester said: “It is our last-ditch attempt to save the jobs. This is a green industry and the government keep harping on about how much they want to get all these hundreds of thousands of green jobs going. But then they go and close the only wind turbine plant in England. The government offered to give Vestas money to keep it going, but apparently Vestas turned this down. What we would like to see is the government actually taking it over and possibly nationalising it.”
Commenting on the sackings of the 11 employees, Vestas said in a statement that it had seen “no other choice than to dismiss the 11 employees, who the company has positively identified as the employees currently participating in the occupation of the factory.”
One of the workers told the BBC dismissal letters informing them they had lost their jobs and redundancy packages, were delivered on Tuesday with their evening meal.
“We're obviously disappointed,” he said, “but we kind of expected this. It's not going to deter us, and we're not going to leave.”
|
|
|
| Positive review of this story |
Vestas worker  |
30 Jul 2009, 8:52 AM |
 |
Court hearing update The court hearing has been deferred until next Tuesday as the summons papers had been incorrectly served to the employees. The court stated that the Vestats management seem "disorganised" and were "trying to cut corners". The sit-in continues with supporters outside teh factory growing by the day and publicity and support increasing daily all over the world.
|
|
