Visteon workers fight on

from freedom, 13 January 2010:

Workers at the car part manufacturers who won a momentous battle for redundancy payment from Ford motor giants last year are still locked in a bitter dispute with their ex-employers over money owed through the pension fund after the collapse of Visteon UK.

Visteon UK, formerly the main car parts supplier to Ford, went into administration on 31st March 2009 sacking its entire workforce, around 560 people, without notice. The workers immediately responded by occupying the three factories in Belfast, Basildon and Enfield, and when evicted mounted a 24 hour-a-day picket to prevent the administrators stripping the plants of machinery, components and finished parts.

After a month of intensive struggle by the sacked workers, supported by anarchists, many of whom were instrumental in organising the Ford-Visteon Workers Support Group in Enfield, Ford bosses capitulated and agreed to honour its obligations with an improved redundancy package, but excluded any provision for the pension fund. A pension action group was established, which now has over 800 members, to continue the fight for what is owed to the workers.

Visteon was created in 2000 by Ford as a ’spin-off’ company with the promise of a job for life for all Visteon employees as well as assurances that they would continue to match the terms and conditions of Ford workers, with the same pension provisions.
Steve Sharpe, co-chair of the Visteon Pension Action Group (VPAG), which has coordinated a series of protests to demand their full pension entitlement from Ford said: “It’s not unusual to move manufacturing outside of the UK to reduce costs, but unfortunately they didn’t just shut the manufacturing plant down, they shut the whole company down. We’re all fighting like crazy because when we split off from Ford we were promised mirrored terms and conditions, including our pension.”

The dispute also affects workers from another Ford spin-off company based in Swansea, which was bought out by Linamar in 2008 and is still in operation. In total some 3,000 former Visteon workers, including 700 from the Swansea plant, face massive cuts to their pensions.
Andy Belch, a Visteon pensioner and former worker at the Basildon plant, said: “I worked for 38 years as a Ford employee and paid into the pension fund every day. I had only three months in Visteon scheme. Now my pension will now reduce by around 42%, without future rises, despite commitments made by Ford to employees and unions at spin off to protect my pension.”

The finances are being investigated by the Pensions Regulator and could be taken over by the Government’s insurance scheme, the Pension Protection Fund (PPF) which would severely limit pay outs. Currently around 1000 workers are in the process of having their pensions reduced to PPF levels. The PPF was established in 2005 by New Labour after the struggles involving Cardiff steel workers who were left without a pension following the collapse of Allied Steel and Wire in 2002.

The fund offers compensation to pension scheme members when a company goes bust and is unable to sustain its financial commitments. Members of the Visteon UK pension scheme are likely to lose more than 40% of their pension because of the funding levels of the scheme and the PPF compensation cap along with £1.23bn financial black hole in the PPF making any future payouts precarious at best.

Supporters of the campaign understand that before Visteon UK went into administration, leaving behind an under-funded pension scheme and a £669m debt, senior executives created another Visteon company, Visteon Engineering Systems, taking with them key management staff and transferring their pensions into a separate new account. The original company was then placed into administration, factories shut down and remaining employees made redundant.

Investigations by VPAG have also uncovered that the Ford pension fund was 120% funded in 2000 at the time of the spin off, but had a £49m shortfall by the final transfer to Visteon. Workers are angered that Ford’s business dealings have put the value of their pensions in jeopardy and have staged a number of public meetings and protests to voice their discontent. There is an ongoing protest each Saturday and Sunday between 10am and 4pm outside the Enfield branch of Dagenham Motors

Around 120 workers met in Swansea before Christmas to discuss talks scheduled to take place between members of the VPAG and senior Ford executives in New York on Friday, January 22. To coincide with this important meeting VPAG have also organised a mass demonstration outside the Welsh Assembly in Cardiff the day before the talks, and people from across the country are encouraged to attend to show their support.

Coaches have been laid on for free and are booked to leave:-
a) Basildon at 06.00 am from the Sports and Social Club, Gardiners Close.
b) Enfield at 06.45 am from the Homebase carpark just off the A10.

So park your car, bring warm clothes, refreshments and something to eat.

Visit http://www.visteonpensionactiongroup.co.uk for contact information and to book a seat.

[original article]

Visteon Pension Action Group protest at Bridgend, S Wales

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