Vestas seeks court order to end factory sit-in

After days of silence, Vestas yesterday issued a statement on the sit-in taking place at its factory in the Isle of Wight, defending the decision to close the facility and confirming that it has now sacked 11 of the employees it has identified as being involved.

The Danish company will today seek a possession order from Newport County Court that will give it the authority to send in bailiffs and end the sit-in staged by around 20 workers, which has been underway since last Monday and has secured high-profile support from a loose coalition of green and trade union groups.

One of the protestors, Michael Godley, told the Guardian newspaper that the group was disappointed at the decision to sack staff involved, leaving them without redundancy packages, but he insisted they planned to continue the sit-in.

"We'll stay in here until they come and get us out, or until we get what we want," he said. "We're here for the long haul. We don't plan to leave any time soon."

In a detailed statement, Vestas defended its controversial decision to close the plant, arguing that a lack of demand for the blades produced by the plant in Northern Europe had made the factory untenable.

"The [decision to close the factory] was made in response to conditions in the Northern European markets not having met the company’s expectations," it said. "The current market conditions are caused by the credit crunch, weak currencies and a lack of local political action in certain markets. At the same time, Vestas is investing in a significant production base in the US. The expansion in the US has created substantial excess production capacity in Northern Europe, which has so far also manufactured turbines for the US market. "

Vestas added that it had intended to convert the factory to produce 44 million blades for its V90 turbine, which would be more suitable for the UK market, but that the plans had been scuppered by a lack of demand from UK wind projects, primarily caused by the difficulty many wind developers are having securing planning permission for new sites.

"Despite the UK government's strong commitment to renewable energy – which was reconfirmed on 15 July 2009 by its Low Carbon Transition Plan – the local planning process for the construction of new onshore wind power plants in the UK remains an obstacle to the development of a more favourable market for onshore wind power," the company said. "Since offshore wind power is still on a project basis, a large and stable market for onshore wind power is vital to secure a stable production flow."

The company also reiterated its plans to expand its offshore wind R&D facility on the Isle of Wight, adding that it expected it to grow from 110 staff currently to 150 staff by the end of the year.

And it did seek to extend something of an olive branch to green groups, insisting that it would consider investing in new manufacturing capacity in the UK if a "strong and stable market" develops.

The government this week announced that Vestas would be awarded a grant of more than £6m to help fund the expansion of the facility. However, it rejected calls from workers and green groups to nationalise the factory, arguing that there was not a strong enough case for government intervention.