Car parts workers' protest spreads

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Demonstrations were held on Wednesday at factories in Basildon, Essex, and Enfield, north London, as well as in Belfast in Northern Ireland.

More than 560 jobs are to be axed and angry staff want posts saved or better redundancy packages.

They claimed the company's former owner and main customer Ford promised contracts which should be honoured.

Unite union Irish regional secretary Jimmy Kelly said: "Quite a lot of these employees have spent their working lives at this company. To be rewarded with their jobs being extinguished at a stroke of an administrator's pen is not the way to be treated.

"The loss of these jobs for the west Belfast area is a hammer blow to the community which has been hard-pressed to see well-paid and skilled employment locate there.

"The Finaghy workers deserve fairer treatment from Visteon and Ford and a better redundancy package to see them through the tough times ahead."

Up to 80 of those affected were on the roof in Enfield and pledged to remain until Visteon agrees to meet Unite, and a similar number were outside the factory in Basildon. Around 100 held an overnight sit-in in Belfast.

Visteon blamed massive losses for the decision to shut the UK operation. But Belfast staff said they rejected redundancy packages before which were worth around £30,000 more than the current deal and opted to battle to keep the company afloat.

A spokesman for Ford said they were not stepping into the dispute.