[olympiaworkers] English Wind Turbine Sit-in protest into eighth day

Sit-in protest into eighth day

Vestas protest
Workers inside the factory say they will stay for "as long as it takes"

Turbine workers talk of sit-in life

About 25 workers staging a sit-in protest over job cuts at a wind turbine
factory on the Isle of Wight have entered their eighth day of action.

Danish company Vestas Windsystems plans to make 625 workers redundant at
the end of July, despite rising profits.

It said it was planning to shut the Newport site as the UK wind turbine
market was "not big enough".

The workers, who are not union members of a union, began their sit-in
protest on 20 July.

Digging in

Vestas served them with court papers last Thursday. The matter is due to
be discussed in a county court in Newport on Wednesday.

The Rail Maritime and Transport union and the Respect party have both come
forward to offer support for the workers.
Worker inside sit-in
The workers have spent almost a week inside the factory

On Saturday, members of the Respect party staged a demonstration at Vestas
headquarters in Warrington.

Hundreds of people also attended a rally for the protesters in Newport on
Friday evening, a worker said.

Vestas Wind Systems has told the BBC that even though demand was strong
globally it made "more sense" to make turbines as close to the market as
possible.

A total of five men have been arrested at the site of the action since
Monday, police said.