Vestas And Accountant’s Fees.

The amount of money required to turn Vestas into a workers’ co-operative, or at the very least tide over the company is small beans, in terms of the Global Credit Crunch, about £50 million, if memory serves.

£50 million is a lot of money for individuals, but for Governments and Banks it is a paltry amount.

I’ll bet that the accountant’s fees paid by HMG during the Global Credit Crunch far exceed that, yet the money couldn’t be found, for political reasons.

Sadly, New Labour have imbibed too much Thatcherism and forgotten that State intervention to protect jobs during a recession is a perfectly acceptable practice.

Still, that is not going to happen, so the workers at Vestas are continuing their struggle, Isle of Wight County Press has more:

“CLIMATE activists are today (Thursday) blockading the Vestas factory in an attempt to prevent blades being removed.
A giant tripod has been erected outside the St Cross factory, blocking the blades from being loaded onto the Bladerunner barge.

“We see it as our duty to stop our blades from leaving as part of the campaign to nationalise the factory,” one protestor said.

Danish firm Vestas shut the Newport site along with its Southampton plant, with the loss of 600 jobs last month.

The moved sparked a 19-day sit-in by around 11 workers, making headlines around the world.

The Save Vestas Campaign is holding a national day of action next Thursday, September 17, when people are being encouraged to keep it green.”

Good luck to them.

A Windy Retort.

In the wake of Vestas’s potential closure the Times has a timely piece:

“Britain’s countryside and coastline will be dotted with 2,700 new wind turbines by 2012 — more than double the existing total — according to an industry survey of approved wind farms.

The figures contradict claims by Vestas, owner of the country’s only significant wind turbine factory, that demand is too low to justify continuing production.

The Danish company will go to court today to seek a possession order allowing it to evict 18 members of staff who have spent the past ten days barricaded inside offices at the factory at Newport in the Isle of Wight.

They are protesting over the imminent closure of the factory with the loss of 625 jobs. Production ceased last week and the factory is due to close on Friday. Last night, Vestas sacked the 18 men for gross misconduct. They stand to lose up to £10,000 each in redundancy payments.

Mark Smith, one of the workers, said that the protest would continue until Vestas agreed to resume production or the Government nationalised the factory. “

Vestas Update.

The Isle of Wight County Press has more information:

“MASSED ranks of supporters from trade unions and environmental groups from across Britain descended on the Island in a graphic demonstration of solidarity with the sit-in Vestas workers.
A protest camp of around a dozen tents has been pitched outside the factory gates, where mass demonstrations have been taking place all week in support of the 25 employees who have shut themselves inside.”

More On Vestas

The Times covers the occupation at Vestas:

Workers staging a sit-in at Britain’s only significant wind turbine factory to try to prevent its closure have accused managers of attempting to starve them out by blocking food supplies.

Last night, about 30 workers occupied the administrative block at the Vestas factory in Newport on the Isle of Wight.

The Times revealed last week that the factory was closing down its production line within hours of the Government making a pledge to build 10,000 wind turbines — a fivefold increase on the present number — by 2020. More than 600 people are due to be made redundant on July 30 — 525 in Newport and 100 at a related facility in Southampton.”

Let’s hope that they win. If they nationalise Vesta Blades as it would provide a quick and cheap solution, keeping people gainfully employed producing socially worthwhile products.

Save The World, Support The Vestas Occupation.

Fossil fuels have had their day, they are finite and will eventually run out, which means the world will be without sufficient energy sources.

A good alternative is wind power.

It isn’t used as much as it should be and the incentives to install it seem rather low.

One company that actually did produce the necessary equipment was Vestas Blades UK.

It is due to close on the 31st July 2009.

Thankfully, the workers have taken matters into their own hands and are occupying the plant, not only to save jobs but to help the environment.

They deserve our support. They have a blog here and a list of planned events here.

Good luck to them!

Update: Another useful site is http://vestasjobs.net/ and their Facebook group.

Update 2: The Guardian covers it too.