The G20 protests may be over, but those aggravated by injustice aren't planning on shutting up and bowing out any time soon - as proven by the wave of worker protests across the nation at car parts firm Visteon.

I remember the Put People First march on March 28th, the first of many G20 demonstrations to come - with speakers Mark Thomas and Susan George rallying the masses in Hype Park to chant "Put People First!" as a screen above displayed to the public the hundreds of companies contributing to the millions of redundancies in the UK - in hindsight, Visteon should've been high up on that list.

With more than 560 workers set to be axed, it's little wonder why passionately angry staff are demonstrating at Visteon factories from Belfast to Basildon, Essex, Enfield and North London, as employed and unemployed unite to demand jobs saved and/or better redundancy packages.

However, despite the irony of Visteon's decision to shut down UK operations in the wake of the G20 economy talks, it's not even the financial crisis that seems to be grinding the gears of the factory workers. It's a matter of false promises and as Unite union Irish regional secretary Jimmy Kelly told ITV, the fact that long-standing Visteon employees are getting rewarded with an abrupt kick out the backdoor "at a stroke of an administrator's pen."

Two weeks ago, meetings were held at just six minutes notice to announce to the workers that almost all of them were losing their jobs - those not in work on the day found out through media bulletins and workmates. The unofficial and unapologetic manner in which they have been informed of such drastic job losses has left many feeling virtually "crapped on". Visteon blames massive losses for the cuts - fair to say, but that doesn't justify the workers being so casually treated "in complete contempt", "like dirt", "like dogshit" (just some of the terms used by the protestors and union workers).

Also on the piss-take list – Visteon staff representatives claim the company's former owner and main customer, Ford, promised the workers would receive the same redundancy deals as those of Ford's directly employed workers - somehow those contracts got lost, shredded down, forgotten. A fair reward for years of grafting is not on the table for many workers having their redundancies cut from £30,000 to less than £10,000. And as a reaction to the 80 workers soldiering it on the rooftops of the Enfield factory, the 80 at the gates of the Basildon firm, the 100 who held an overnight sit-in in Belfast (and the rest) - Ford have stretched their muscles, stepped back and decided NOT to get their hands dirty in this dispute (at least for now).

The protests will continue, and Visteon shouldn't expect the demonstrators to tire out and sign on the dole. After 20, 30, 40 years in the job, 560 undeservedly fired people won't let Ford forget them – not without agreements to meet with Unite, promised contracts honoured, or a formal and public apology - not a lot to ask for as worker June Dunner told Socialist Worker: "It's management that are in debt - but we are paying the price."

The placards saying "FORD - SELL OUTS!" will come down when the companies put the people first. Such a thing is not impossible, if only the big guns could creep out of the shadows and quit concentrating on their financial books. As protestors' spokesman John Maguire told ITV: "I don't want people to think this is anything to do with the credit crunch. It isn't."

The crunch does play a part, but today's message to Visteon and Ford - it's not about money, it's about respect.