The number of MPs supporting former workers of automotive supplier Visteon who face severe cuts to their pensions has doubled in the last week.
More than 40 MPs have now signed up to a parliamentary motion expressing “great concern” at the treatment of former Visteon staff. Pensions for about 3,000 workers face cuts of up to 60% following the collapse of Visteon’s UK subsidiary earlier this year. Plants in Basildon, Enfield and Belfast were shut down with the loss of 600 jobs in April.
The workers believe they are entitled to a full pension from Ford Motor Company, which spun out Visteon in 2000. They say the terms and conditions of a deal made with Ford at the time of Visteon’s creation guaranteed their pensions, but some have already faced cuts of almost 40%. The pension scheme is currently being assessed by the Pension Protection Fund. Ford has said the responsibility for the pensions lies with Visteon, which continues to trade overseas.
Simon Harding, a former worker at Visteon’s engineering centre in Basildon and a member of the Visteon Pensions Action Group committee, said he was “very pleased” by the MPs’ support. “We now have half the MPs who represent constituencies affected by Visteon’s actions on board,” he said. The motion was tabled by Siân James, Labour MP for Swansea East, which contains a factory sold by Visteon to Canada’s Linamar Corporation in 2007. “We are keeping the MPs informed as the situation develops,” Harding said.
Trade union Unite will meet with senior managers from Ford in New York next month to “highlight commitments made by Ford to Visteon employees,” Harding said. The meeting is expected to be attended by Lewis Booth, chief financial officer of Ford in the US, John Fleming, chairman of Ford Europe, and Nick Caton, vice president, human resources, Ford Europe.
© PE Publishing, 10 December 2009
