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UK:Carpet workers to lose two-thirds of their pension |
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2004-12-6
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A union informed it would call on the Government to intervene after textile workers groups were told they were to lose nearly two-thirds of their pension.
Trustees of the Abingdon Carpets'' pension scheme have told members they are set to lose 61 percent of their pension, stated the Transport and General Workers'' Union (TGWU), which branded it ‘another pensions scandal’.
The South Wales-based Abingdon Carpets used to be part of Carpets International, which went into administration in 2003. Management at the plant later completed a buy-out, saving 300 jobs there.
The union''s national organiser for manufacturing, Peter Booth, revealed he would write to Secretary of State for Work and Pensions Alan Johnson asking the Government to look into the case.
"This is another pensions scandal," he said.
"Members will be deprived of their full and proper pension through no fault of their own. The company wound the pension scheme up at the worst possible time, when members are unlikely to qualify for Government assistance, when we believe they could have continued to administer the scheme. As a consequence our members could receive a fraction of what they''re entitled to," Booth added.
The Government is creating a Pensions Protection Fund aimed at helping workers who have lost all or some of their pensions when a company goes bust.
There will also be an additional £400 million fund to help those who lost their pensions when a company went into administration before the creation of the Pensions Protection Fund.
But the TGWU informs that members of the Abingdon Carpets'' pension scheme may not qualify for either due to deadlines for qualification.
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