Workers at car components firm Visteon, which employs 210 workers in Belfast, have today been offered an improved redundancy package in a bid to end industrial unrest at the plant.
Visteon, which was formerly owned by Ford, announced that its UK subsidiary had entered administration at the beginning of April.
The company, which employs about 600 people in Belfast, Basildon, Essex and Enfield, north London, said today it had presented leaders of the trade union Unite with a new redundancy package which includes the majority of employees receiving an immediate cash payment equivalent to 16 weeks of their previous pay.
Additional payments which would increasing employees' total severance benefits to the approximate amounts they would have received under their most recent contract will also be made over time, the firm said.
About 210 workers in Belfast have held a sit-in since managers announced the closure of the car components company's operations. Employees also picketed Ford showrooms in Northern Ireland at the weekend.
Ford recently agreed to meet Unite to discuss compensation for the workers, despite it saying that it no longer had any responsibility for the firm.
Visteon was set up in 2000 as a Ford spin-off and took over factories formerly owned by the car giant. Staff have demanded that Ford reopens the plants or, honour the redundancy terms and conditions they had as Ford workers.
