Police asked to ensure the Vestas protesters receive enough food

Paul Lewis and Tom Roberts
guardian.co.uk, Friday 31 July 2009 20.32 BST

Police on the Isle of Wight will be asked to ensure food reaches men occupying the Vestas wind turbine factory tomorrow, after lawyers advised that the company could be breaking the law by preventing supplies from getting through.
Around 10 workers have staged a sit-in at the Danish-owned plant in Newport for almost two weeks. They complain the management are attempting to starve them out of the facility, and claim they have been given only sporadic meals – sometimes just a small sandwich and slice of pizza per day. Attempts by their supporters to throw them additional food parcels have been impeded by security staff and one worker emerged on Thursday to be told by ambulance staff that his blood sugar levels were dangerously low.
Union officials will meet with police tomorrow to lodge an official complaint after Louise Christian, the human rights lawyer, advised that in preventing food from getting through, Vestas and its security firm were committing a criminal offence under the Protection from Harrassment Act (1997). Christian added police have an obligation under the Human Rights Act to ensure Vestas was not preventing access to sufficient food.
"This advice confirms our concerns about the rights of the Vestas workers to decent food and we will be making immediate representations to the police in Newport to stop the private company from blockading these essential supplies," said Bob Crow, general secretary of the RMT union. "We will not allow the company and their private guards to starve the workers out. With the closure now pushed back it is even more important that the workers inside get nutritional meals on a regular basis." The Newport factory, the only major manufacturer of wind turbine blades in the UK, was due to close today with the loss of around 625 jobs. Vestas said "complications" arising from the industrial dispute had led it to extend its consultation period until at least 10 August. Peter Kruse, a vice-president at the company, said the men were being catered for. "We do not starve people," he said.
Vestas failed its legal attempt to secure a possession order from the local country court this week, a move that would have enabled bailiffs to be called. A judge at Newport County Court told lawyers for the company that papers had not been properly served on the men and adjourned the hearing until Tuesday.
Kruse said there was nothing the UK government could do to save the factory, which is being abandoned because there is "not enough in the pipeline" in terms of projected growth in the UK onshore market. "They can't create a big enough market overnight with the click of a finger," he said.