Visteon Eviction Bid Delayed

A hearing to resolve an eviction application against sit-in workers in Belfast will not now take place until next month.

The legal moves to force the eviction of former workers from the car parts factory were hit by a further delay on Friday after lawyers for protestors at the Visteon plant said they wanted more time to advise them on the case.

Administrators KPMG initially went to the High Court to seek an order which would force out those occupying the site in the Finaghy area of the city.

Staff have refused to leave since they were put out of work when the plant stopped operating last month.

Out of nearly 600 redundancies at three Visteon sites across the UK, more than a third have come in Belfast.

Workers are demanding a satisfactory deal, claiming they were giving guarantees on pay and conditions when the company split from Ford nine years ago.

As some of them staged a protest outside the High Court, holding a banner which claimed 'Betrayed by Ford', their barrister sought an adjournment to give further advice.

Today, Mr Justice Deeny gave him a week to file an affidavit and for named individuals to be represented in court.

Potential issues around a lease and whether it covered the whole site were also raised.

The union representing the former workers has already rejected an offer of cash payments by the firm's US owners

A Unite union spokesman called last week's offer "derisory" and that it added "insult to injury" even though it would have meant most of the protesting workers at the doomed Belfast factory being offered individual cash payments.

See: Visteon Settlement Rejected