Strikers want turbine plant nationalized

NEWPORT, England, July 22 (UPI) -- Workers due to be laid off from a British wind turbine factory say they want the government to nationalize the plant and save their jobs.

Thirty Vestas employees occupied the plant on the Isle of Wight after factory managers revealed that more than 600 employees would be laid off, even as the British government pledged to build 10,000 wind turbines -- a fivefold increase -- from the present number, by 2020, The Times of London reported.

Company officers have cut off the strikers' food supply, stopping a delivery van at the plant gates, and are preventing workers outside the plant from resupplying them, the newspaper said.

"We want Vestas to come and talk to us about the redundancy package they have offered," sit-in participant Mark Smith said. "But most importantly we want the government to nationalize the factory and save our jobs. They have been bailing out the banks, so why not help people making products which help the world fight climate change?"

The Times said strikers have draped banners at the factory saying, "Gordon Brown -- nationalise this," and "forced to occupy to save our jobs."