The fight against Ford continues
Posted on Tuesday, July 20, 2010 at 11:05pm
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I’M JUST back from the latest Visteon Pension Action Group meeting at the Railwaymans Club in Swansea. If any of you don’t know the venue, it is typical of a working man’s club. Think the clubs in Our Friends from the North or Brassed Off, and you’re practically there.
Every time I go in there, I think I’m going back in a time capsule to the Miner’s Strike (I am imagining, of course, because I’m too young to remember it) and the room is always packed full of people – former Visteon and Ford workers, in this case. I am usually the only woman in the room at these meetings and, bless them, they always apologise to me on the very rare occasion that anyone uses foul language. I may sound corny, but they feel like my extended family now. I talk with people before and after the meeting, so I can get the latest information on their personal pension problems, or just to chat about how things are going. These are all genuine people from the area who are sincerely worried about their futures, all because Ford will not pay them the pensions they all spent years paying into.
Now, of course, we have the good news that Unite is taking legal action against Ford, alleging that it mis-sold workers their pensions. Everyone at the meeting wanted to know about the next steps, about whether there is still hope for a Parliamentary inquiry, about concerns regarding the Pension Protection Fund, the ongoing dialogue with the Pensions Regulator. All very detailed stuff. Nonetheless, tonight’s good news about the legal action was clouded by the fact that the Linamar factory on Fabian Way – where first Ford and then Visteon had been situated – will close, with 200 workers taking the redundancy package offered by Linamar. Ford again has not helped at all in this situation as it did not even send application forms to Linamar workers so they could apply for jobs at the Ford Bridgend plant. The redundancy pay-out, from what I understand. will go in to a trust fund. Staff don’t want anything like Visteon happening again.
The political campaigning will go on alongside the legal action, and I was enthused that those present were ready and willing to continue with the sterling work they have been doing up until now, raising awareness of the campaign among family, friends, and in communities in Swansea, Port Talbot, Neath and Swansea Valley areas where the workers live.
Of course I hope the legal action is successful so that these pensioners don’t have to keep on attending meetings on rainy mid-week evenings, so that they can stop worrying and enjoy their retirement like they deserve. Ford should pay the £350m pension shortfall. This is a drop in the ocean for a multinational company like Ford after all.
So, the battle continues, and I’ll do all I can to continue supporting them.
