The Vestas lock-in: Labour’s chance to turn corporate disgrace into environmental leadership

By Sebastian Michnowicz

By It was only when watching BBC News 24, awaiting the dire results of the Norwich North by-election, that I learned a lock-in had been underway for five days at a factory on the Isle of Wight.

Vestas, a Danish manufacturer of wind turbine blades, employs 525 people at its factory in Newport on the Isle of White, who turned up for work on Monday last week to be greeted by locked factory gates and told they no longer had jobs.

The company has bucked recessional trends, making first-quarter profits of £50 million: a staggering and unprecedented 70 per cent increase on the same period in 2008. It also employs around 100 people at a plant in Southampton, also facing closure, as the company intends to move production to America and China. Vestas says demand for wind turbines in Northern Europe is too low for the plants to remain viable in the long-term and turbine blades manufactured at Newport are made to US-specifications. By situating its manufacturing operation in America, Vestas argues it will be able to expand its facilities as demand for turbines in the US continues to increase rapidly.

While Vestas enjoys its rude health, the situation for the workers is grim: they are not represented by any trade union (employees reported they were asked by management at interview stage if they were union members). On the request of management, a police cordon surrounded the factory on the morning the lock-in began, preventing hundreds of supporters getting to the factory, but three people managed to break through with some food supplies and blankets.

To intimidate the occupiers further, Vestas disconnected telephone lines and hired a private security contractor to aid police in preventing anybody getting to the factory. Luckily, the equipment required to establish an internet connection was brought in with some supplies and the occupiers are able to keep a blog. Supporters outside the plant answered the occupiers’ pleas for tobacco and cigarette papers by concealing the items in tennis balls bounced at the factory building from a nearby wasteground that has, so far, escaped the police cordon.

It seems such ingenuity only manifests itself when large groups of people come together, united by a common goal, and both the supporters and occupiers have every reason to be proud of the fight they are putting up against a belligerent employer, obscenely trampling on the occupiers’ civil liberties, and the police, who - under the guise of upholding the law - are simply carrying out the requests of Vestas management.

Andrew Turner, the Conservative MP for the Isle of Wight, however, presents Vestas’ position perfectly: "…when a hugely profitable multi-national company simply decides that it wants to close down a factory… it seems that there is little that can be done," but there is one aspect of this struggle that makes it unique, the ramifications of which the Government would be foolish to ignore.

For probably the first time ever, trade unions and climate campaigners have combined forces at such a protest, showing that this is a battle not only for jobs, but also for the environment. The economic and environmental issues concerning the closure of the factory are so interwoven, the only way the Government can argue that it is supporting British people in the recession and striving to meet its ambitious, but nonetheless achievable environmental targets, is to nationalise the factory.

It makes sense – given the enormous profit Vestas is enjoying, it is highly unlikely the Government would be making a bad investment, taking over a purpose-built factory with room for a research and design facility (with clear potential for further job opportunities), as well as a highly skilled and apparently eager-to-work workforce. Some money would need to be spent on re-tooling the factory to allow for the manufacture of turbine blades to UK/EU specifications, but to let the factory be closed would be to put the workers of the Isle of Wight’s third largest employer on the dole. Furthermore, the island is already suffering from above average unemployment, because of the recession.                      

Ed Miliband argues that demand for on-shore wind farms, the type Vestas specialises in, is low because of very strict planning regulations due to come under review in April 2010. These regulations need to come under review now, not in nine months, as only 6% of our energy comes from wind power. Britain also has the best off-shore wind, wave and tidal resources in Europe, which are woefully underused compared to other European countries.

How we are supposed to meet our renewable energy targets if this factory is allowed to close? We will have to buy-in wind turbines from elsewhere, costing us money and incurring a carbon footprint in their transportation. Demand for wind turbines will increase as other European countries recover from the recession, and with a lifetime of 20-25 years, it won’t be long before the many thousands of turbines in Denmark, Germany and the UK need replacing. By nationalising the Vestas factory, we stand to gain both economically and, for the benefit of future generations, environmentally.

The occupiers are keeping a blog, updated a few times a day.

Vestas is seeking a possession order to evict the occupiers from the factory. A demonstration in support of the workers will be gathering outside Newport County Court at 10.15 tomorrow (Wednesday, 29th July).