Threat of strike at Ford still looming (From Daily Echo)
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Union rejects bid to settle pensions dispute
3:39pm Thursday 17th March 2011 in News
Exclusive By Simon Carr, Eastleigh Chief Reporter
ANGRY: Retired Ford workers protest at the motor giant’s headquarters in Essex.
A STRIKE threat still looms over Southampton’s Ford factory after union bosses rejected what they called a “cynical bribe” to end a pensions dispute.
More than 150 retired workers descended on the motor giant’s UK headquarters in Essex to fight controversial plans to cut pension inflation increases.
The former staff members, including 21 from the Swaythling plant, braved the icy weather and heavy mist to stand together at the base in Warley.
The row was sparked over plans to change the way pensions are calculated from the Retail Price Index (RPI) to the lower Consumer Price Index (CPI).
The Daily Echo understands that Ford offered a one-off cash payment to current workers but refused to reverse its proposal in relation to former staff.
Protesters held aloft a variety of placards and the procession marched to the reception of the six-storey building. Staff inside watched the drama, and passing motorists tooted their horns to show support.
Unite union boss Ian Woodland said: “It was an attempt to bribe the workers at the expense of the former members of staff and we refused to even see the offer because that would be completely unacceptable.
“It was not an angry meeting from their side, they noted down what we said and we told them to come back with a different offer that we could discuss.”
A new meeting is planned for early April.
Steve Slominski, 54, of Eastleigh, who was at the plant for 30 years, said: “We showed we have got fight and are prepared to take action.
“There were some surprised faces from the office when they saw us, ghosts from the past, looming out of the mist. It is the first time a lot of us have seen the headquarters that was built with our blood, sweat and tears.”
Dave Lewis, 62, of Southampton, said: “I think the presence outside the offices showed the strength of feeling. They have misled people in the Southampton plant, they are trying to take away what they promised.
“I am not surprised but I am disappointed. It will take money out of pockets.”
Kevin Hayes, 59, of Bassett, who had been with Ford for 30 years, said: “They have mis-sold the redundancy package to the workforce.”
The group said that under the current plans they will get a pension inflation boost of 3.1 per cent instead of 4.6 per cent. This will come into effect on April 1 but any agreement reached will need to be backdated, according to union bosses.
If no resolution is reached the firm will ballot on industrial action. It could lead to the first national strike since the 1970s with 11,000 workers downing tools in Hampshire, Dagenham in Essex, Bridgend in South Wales, Halewood in Merseyside, Daventry in Northampton-shire and Dunton in Essex.
A Ford spokesman said: “Our view remains that Ford’s final salary pension provisions stand comparison with the best pension arrangements in the UK private sector and the company continues to meet the significant cost of providing the promised level of pension benefits set out in the rules of the fund.”
Comments(10)
MGRA
says...
4:46pm Thu 17 Mar 11
enzo27
says...
4:59pm Thu 17 Mar 11
MGRA wrote:What would you know about it. I'm ex-ford employee and it will affect my pension. numpty
ford workers are either stupid or unrealistic if they go on strike... I expect they will go on strike.
cyber_fug
says...
5:07pm Thu 17 Mar 11
southy wrote:Sometimes your stupidity is beyond belief.
Fords have been blackmailing its work force for years, they all so black mail countries to pay for every thing.
I wish Fords had blackmailed me when I left School, employed me in comfortable conditions for many many years. Paid me overtime to do what would normally be possible to do in a day and then gave me the opportunity to purchase a vehicle at a very cheap rate.
What nasty bosses those people are to have given so many people a good standard of living for decades....
gillyman
says...
5:22pm Thu 17 Mar 11
enzo27 wrote:as a ford worker of 20 plus years i have been asking my retired friends about pension rises they have recieved since retiring and the last pension increase was six years ago so perhaps this numpty wont be going on strike without a valid reason or correct information from my union
MGRA wrote: ford workers are either stupid or unrealistic if they go on strike... I expect they will go on strike.What would you know about it. I'm ex-ford employee and it will affect my pension. numpty
Militant Ford Worker
says...
5:44pm Thu 17 Mar 11
cyber_fug wrote:Not that you are envious at all...lol
southy wrote:Sometimes your stupidity is beyond belief.
Fords have been blackmailing its work force for years, they all so black mail countries to pay for every thing.
I wish Fords had blackmailed me when I left School, employed me in comfortable conditions for many many years. Paid me overtime to do what would normally be possible to do in a day and then gave me the opportunity to purchase a vehicle at a very cheap rate.
What nasty bosses those people are to have given so many people a good standard of living for decades....
Still, you are right you missed a great opportunity to go stone deaf like some of the guys in the press shop
develop trigger finger like guys on the line using windy tools
Get Asthma like the welders or oesophageal cancer like some of paint sprayers.
Lucky people.
Do you really think it is generous of Ford to give their pensioners - the people who built the business one 3.1% pension increase in six years?
cyber_fug
says...
5:54pm Thu 17 Mar 11
Militant Ford Worker wrote:Two of the people I worked with back in my early working years as a civil engineer would have been glad to have ended up deaf or with trigger finger..... but unfortunately they died in the workplace... one killed when a device brought in by the H&S peeps toppled onto him.
cyber_fug wrote:Not that you are envious at all...lol
southy wrote:Sometimes your stupidity is beyond belief.
Fords have been blackmailing its work force for years, they all so black mail countries to pay for every thing.
I wish Fords had blackmailed me when I left School, employed me in comfortable conditions for many many years. Paid me overtime to do what would normally be possible to do in a day and then gave me the opportunity to purchase a vehicle at a very cheap rate.
What nasty bosses those people are to have given so many people a good standard of living for decades....
Still, you are right you missed a great opportunity to go stone deaf like some of the guys in the press shop
develop trigger finger like guys on the line using windy tools
Get Asthma like the welders or oesophageal cancer like some of paint sprayers.
Lucky people.
Do you really think it is generous of Ford to give their pensioners - the people who built the business one 3.1% pension increase in six years?
If interests rate drop after your mortgage has been paid off, would you try to claim an "overpayment" back retrospectively ?
MGRA
says...
6:12pm Thu 17 Mar 11
enzo27 wrote:I don't care about your pension. We are all stuffed in this bancrupt country thanks to 13 years of quander, reckless finances and borrowing. "What would I know about it" ? Well I know how viable the ford plant is for a start... Its only open for purely strategic reasons. When are people going to get it into their stupid skulls that we can not pay pensions with money that does not exist. People who have/do pay into pensions are basically gambling on stockmarket in part. Huge losses in the financial world have vanished a lot of this money, it is simply not there. I am no fan of banks. I am no fan of bullying management. I am no fan of any political party. i AM realistic. Money does not grow on trees and you can not pay money out that does not exist.
MGRA wrote: ford workers are either stupid or unrealistic if they go on strike... I expect they will go on strike.What would you know about it. I'm ex-ford employee and it will affect my pension. numpty
Pettle
says...
7:21pm Thu 17 Mar 11
I know a few people who have had their pensions changed to the CPI rating, so it's not just Fords, and really, the conditions at Ford, to work in, pensions and benifits look great. But don't forget, you are not working in the fantasy banking industry.
Is this total overkill by calling out 11,000 people and (another 60s 70s term) 'downing tools' for a general strike worth it. Times are difficult for companies and all of us, and we live in a very competitive enviroment, has this not dawned on people yet, there's no spirit in management and production staff of team work here with the present too. It's pathetic and looks like we have not learned anything from the past. But in today's world, you are lucky to have a job with any pension conditions, and the advantages of working for Ford. The baby boomers never had it so go, and they are the one's, yet again, who are kicking off. Striking is the past, and it is industrial suicide. I just hope the robots are not forced to strike.
I have no sympathy for you lot who want to strike. If there are issues, disscus it like proffessional production staff, not like in some carry on film. Industry was different back then, and there was much more of it, with everyone taking the perverbial out of firms. I know, I've heard the baby boomers talk about it, and they are proud of it, as well as their striking, which they were proud of. It makes me sick, as this caused (or in part) much industry to die, when it didn't need to, (again, management's job is to manage, and have vision for modernization, and unions should of excepted that, when that did happen).
Let the ghosts of the past, stay in the past, never to return, if you want your country to succeed and win, as things are not going to stay bad like this forever. If you do want to start serious carry on striking, your jobs will quietly disappear off to europe and elsewhere, and your place of work which you will reminisce about will become wasteland, then regenerated into something mind numbingly boring, and not making anything. So, it's your choice. Although, when I typed in Ford in a search, most of the finds were about strikes in the 2000s, so... Also, the government and the BoE need to get a handle on this inflation problem.
orange-bud
says...
11:41pm Fri 18 Mar 11
Pettle wrote:you should write a book !
If the younger generation want to follow 'their comrades', well we have problems (very red, militant, and sad to see we still have this 'them and us' situation, caused by management staff as well as floor/production staff). A new generation of strikers, and this country getting a reputation for striking again, after it's taken a generation to get out of this 60s 70s illness, is not what we need. Don't let 'ghosts from the past' ruin your future. In the future us in our 20s to 40s are not going to know about pensions or retirement. I know I am likely to die from cement based cancer, with my body falling apart, and someone who works in an office will suffer repetitive strain injury. I don't want this to happen, but we have to deal with it, it happens.
I know a few people who have had their pensions changed to the CPI rating, so it's not just Fords, and really, the conditions at Ford, to work in, pensions and benifits look great. But don't forget, you are not working in the fantasy banking industry.
Is this total overkill by calling out 11,000 people and (another 60s 70s term) 'downing tools' for a general strike worth it. Times are difficult for companies and all of us, and we live in a very competitive enviroment, has this not dawned on people yet, there's no spirit in management and production staff of team work here with the present too. It's pathetic and looks like we have not learned anything from the past. But in today's world, you are lucky to have a job with any pension conditions, and the advantages of working for Ford. The baby boomers never had it so go, and they are the one's, yet again, who are kicking off. Striking is the past, and it is industrial suicide. I just hope the robots are not forced to strike.
I have no sympathy for you lot who want to strike. If there are issues, disscus it like proffessional production staff, not like in some carry on film. Industry was different back then, and there was much more of it, with everyone taking the perverbial out of firms. I know, I've heard the baby boomers talk about it, and they are proud of it, as well as their striking, which they were proud of. It makes me sick, as this caused (or in part) much industry to die, when it didn't need to, (again, management's job is to manage, and have vision for modernization, and unions should of excepted that, when that did happen).
Let the ghosts of the past, stay in the past, never to return, if you want your country to succeed and win, as things are not going to stay bad like this forever. If you do want to start serious carry on striking, your jobs will quietly disappear off to europe and elsewhere, and your place of work which you will reminisce about will become wasteland, then regenerated into something mind numbingly boring, and not making anything. So, it's your choice. Although, when I typed in Ford in a search, most of the finds were about strikes in the 2000s, so... Also, the government and the BoE need to get a handle on this inflation problem.
southy says...
3:56pm Thu 17 Mar 11