Workers at a Huddersfield firm will be thousands of pounds worse off if proposed changes to their pension scheme go ahead, union leaders have claimed.
Hundreds of employees at agrichemicals business Syngenta’s Leeds Road works are in the middle of a 60-day consultation period with bosses over proposals to change their defined benefit pension scheme.
The proposal – which would affect 248 of the site’s 362 workers – would see their pensions based on their pensionable pay at March 1, 2015, no matter how many more years they may be employed by the company or how their pay may increase over that period.
Under the proposals, employees in the scheme could continue to make their own contributions to build up a pension, but it would not grow in line with future pay. The proposals do not affect deferred and retired members of the scheme.
Syngenta said the changes were needed to tackle a pensions deficit running into hundreds of millions of pounds and ensure the scheme remained sustainable in the long term. It said the scheme would still have “clear benefits” to employees and compare favourably with many other pension schemes.
But a statement by the Unite union, which represents most of those affected, criticised the company’s proposals and said workers felt let down and betrayed by the move. The statement added: “Trust with the company has now been brought into question”.
The statement said a straw poll of members attending mass meetings to discuss their response to the proposals showed overwhelming 97% support for future action if Syngenta did not significantly change its proposals by the end of the consultation period.
Unite claims that the changes would effectively halve the pension that workers in their 30s and 40s could have otherwise expected to get on retirement at 60 – leaving them thousands of pounds worse off than they would otherwise have been.
The statement said: “Members attended showing their extreme disappointment at the company’s proposal. The majority have been employed on this site for many years, helping to contribute to Syngenta’s worldwide success as a leading agrichemical company.
“The defined benefit pension scheme is seen by employees as the foundation of the total remuneration package and any amendments to the package are seen as a serious further erosion of their terms and conditions.
“These multi-skilled employees now feel let down and betrayed and trust with the company has now been brought into question.
“These proposals, if implemented, would be detrimental to retirement account members, in particular the younger element of the scheme, with serious life-changing consequences.”
A spokesman for the company said: “Syngenta’s proposal is designed to ensure the long term sustainability of our defined benefit pension scheme.
“We have asked those employees affected by the proposed change to give us their views and only after these have been fully considered will a final decision be taken.
“Whatever the outcome, the defined benefit pension will remain a very significant and attractive benefit to our employees.”
