Author: Sal
Vestas Protest: Update From Marine Gate (photo gallery)
Thursday, 10th September, 2009 at 9:10 am, Isle of Wight
Things are hotting up down at Marine Gate next to the Vestas plant in Newport. Those following the protest will know that a successful blockade was set up last week on public land next to Marine Gate.
It is anticipated that several blades which are ready to ship will attempt to be moved onto barges on the River Medina so protesters have set up a 24hr blockade by the riverside.
We understand that yesterday Police removed one tent from the blockade which had been filled with cement. It’s also understood that there was one arrest and another person banned from the site after receiving a dispersal order.
The protesters did not let this deter them and during the night a large tripod was erected (pictured) which is currently being manned by one of the Vestas insiders, Dave Arbuthnot (Arbo).
We’ll keep you up to date with the news as it happens.
Thanks to Jax for the photo above and many thanks to LoisLane999LoisLane999 for photo gallery
Related posts:
- Vestas Protest: Marine Gate Blockade Moved by Police (photos) UPDATE 2
Early this morning, a large number of Police were in... - Vestas Protest: Update From Riverside (Photo Gallery)
There are a group of people down at the riverside... - Vestas Protest: Vestas Take Legal Action to Move Blockade
Vestas attempt legal action to remove the blockade from Marine... - Bestival 09: Saturday Photo Gallery
Photos of Wight Light Orchestra, Lucky Elephant and Guy Page... - Vestas Protest: Picnic in the Job Centre: Update 2 (video and photos)
An unlikely move, a Picnic turns up at Newport Job...
Email This Story To A Friend
Can somebody explain to me the logic of this blockade? I just don’t get it.
(Report comment)
There are 11 ex-vestas workers who have been sacked and hence robbed of their redundancy pay, because they dared to make a stand on behalf of the broader workforce – I would support their call for re-instatement whatever they had been producing, and it makes sense to keep up the pressure on the factory owners in this way until they show some decency towards these guys who have earned every penny of that money. If you agree with that principle then please support all efforts to help them over the next few weeks. They are a model of the kind of grit we need to see more of these days.
(Report comment)
Maybe to annoy Vestas so much that they pull off the Island altogether thus increasing the misery.
That part of Vestas has gone…Surely this is risking the rest of the company just uping and following it
(Report comment)
The reality is that if Vestas doesn’t get these blades out to power wind turbines they will eventually be broken up and go to landfill. I would imagine that a few blades are neither here nor there to a company the size of Vestas.
(Report comment)
90% of the people protesting have never set foot inside vestas, they have nothiing better to do and are flogging a dead horse. I could understand why workers protested, it is their jobs after all but i dont get this current circus act. The problem is not Vestas the problem is Gordon Brown’s magical roundabout economy that crashed 2 years ago. If we didnt have a recession 500 people would still have jobs at Vestas and so would a further 1.5 million across the uk.
(Report comment)
Most of these are so called activists who go anywhere they think there is a protest…
another post on here says that they want vestas to give up the st cross site and now they block the people trying to clear it, and according to a contractor trying to sabotage important safety equipment…
Who are they fighting for?
Not the ex vestas employees or the Isle of wight.
Carry on and lose yet more islanders their jobs.
(Report comment)
I suppose I am one of the “so-called activists” Stuart talks about. As and when my work allows, I’ve been travelling down from Somerset since the start of the occupation, to support the laid-off workforce however I can. It’s because this is an important issue not just for this community, who Vestas have treated with such disregard, but also for the whole country, and even the whole planet. I am proud to be working with ex-vestas workers to stand up for social justice AND for real concerted action over Climate Change, which is now a threat to all our children.
The blockade is keeping the campaign alive here while others are campaigning elsewhere, pressuring vestas to pay the sacked workers their rightful redundancy, and keeping the spotlight on the need for government intervention to provide secure “green” jobs for the island, preferably in much needed wind-turbine production.
Many ex-vestas workers are now busy elsewhere, trying to get their lives sorted, so support from the rest of us is doubly important. You don’t win a campaign by giving up – you usually win because you go the extra mile. If the workers who have called this blockade ask us to leave, we will. In the meantime, I’d rather side with the people who are prepared to make a stand than with the ones who are afraid that big business will punish them further if they dare to step out of line. As one of the police officers at the Marine Gate, an ex-GKN worker, said to me recently, “Sometimes you’ve just got to stand and fight for what is right.”
(Report comment)
but do it with out endangering peoples lives or committing CRIMINAL OFFENCES!!!
(Report comment)
Good point Bob. I agree with you about not endangering people’s lives – only soldiers are allowed to do that in this country, (although negligent employers often seem to get away with it as well!). Every activist I know would probably agree with you too. If, in any campaign, someone decided it was necessary to disable a piece of machinary, then it would also be necessary to leave clear and obvious warnings of any potential hazards the action had created.
As you can see, I don’t agree with your idea that we must always avoid comitting “CRIMINAL OFFENCES” while fighting for what is right. So many things have been made illegal these days – it’s even illegal for workers to take solidarity action on behalf of their union brothers and sisters, otherwise Vestas would have been forced to the negotiating table a long time ago. Just because it is now “a criminal offence” to climb onto a crane and prevent a ship being loaded does not mean it is wrong. It is actually brave and public spirited. Personally, I would be prepared to face criminal charges for doing what I actually thought was right. I think you would too.
But, as me and Vestas boss Paddy Weir agreed recently, we all have the common aim that people should not be hurt. That is why I am so determined that we urgently cut our CO2 emissions, so as not to hurt other people on the planet and my own children in the future.
(Report comment)
It might seem vindictive towards Vestas but the way they treated their workers was casually vindictive in that way that only big companies seem to be able to get away with: they told people that they were going to start building a new blade at the start of the year, and then for their own business reasons changed their minds and made everyone redundant.
They want to mothball the factory and come back when the market picks up. They make a renewable energy product, but there is nothing ethical about them. They treated the workforce badly all the time they were working for them.
Everyone agrees that the occupation raised the issue about green manufacturing, the government was all smiles and very sympathetic – see Ed Miliband at the TUC this week – but the 11 who did the most to get the public talking about this, and about this supposed NIMBYism which is making it impossible for Vestas to make as much profit as they would like… Well, those 11 have lost their redundancy money. That is pure vindictiveness.
Vestas are still happy taking public money for the R+D facility. If they are so keen on private enterprise, let them turn that down!
I am an activist – you can come and help me win my campaign to keep the sheltered housing wardens in Barnet council any time you like! We all live in the same country, and the same world – parochialism doesn’t help anyone.
Best wishes,
Vicki
(Report comment)