Newsletter
Date: Wed, 3 Jun 2009
Please find this the first newsheet put together by Dennis, and the other lads. Although it is mentioned in the letter I would like to remind you of the next demonstration
which is our chance to show everyone and especially Ford of our intention to take the fight for our rightful pensions. PLEASE BE AT FORD WARLEY OFFICES
AT 7.45 am ON THURSDAY 11th JUNE. YOUR SUPPORT IS NEEDED.
Trevor
All, this newsletter is to give you an update on what is happening with the Pension struggle. In the last couple of days we have had good success making direct
contact with the TU - Tony Woodley and Roger Maddison; MP - Angela Smith; Chris Martin - Chairman of Visteon Pension trust and all now fully understand that
our aim is to keep the pension fund outside of the PPF and to get Ford Motor Company to take it over. The key points are as follows:
Monday demonstration outside Visteon Pension Trust meeting in London. A good turnout of 70 or so people from Basildon and Enfield Plants. We met with Chris
Martin, Chairman of the Trust. He listened to what we had to say and now understands that our direction is not to enter the PPF but for Ford to pick up our pension
fund. He said he will pursue PPF route as demanded by law however is very open to investigating other avenues to improve pension plight and subsequently not
invoke full PPF takeover. He has written to Visteon Corporation in the USA - no reply to date, and will now also write to Ford on our behalf from an ethical / moral
standpoint to see what they can do for us. He asked for us to forward any documents we have on the Ford mirrored terms and conditions promised to us, some info
has already been forwarded to Trevor (Jones), if anyone has any information on this please let us know asap. The Trustee will be sending letters to all members on
12th June with personal pension info enclosed. We now have direct contact details for Chris Martin who is prepared to feed info through a nominated person (Dennis
Varney) for forwarding to all pensioners.
We need to develop specific questions for him and
solicit specific answers re PPF and Visteon Pension anomalies, send
any questions to Dennis Varney who will collate and forward onto Chris Martin for his response.
We also demonstrated outside Unite's main London office and managed to meet Tony Woodley - Unite Gen Sec. He gave an update on Visteon. He said first
priority was a better deal for the redundant people and had to tread softly otherwise there was a real danger that Visteon would go into administration at that time and
all would be lost. Looking at pensions he went on to say that the PPF fund has been in place for some 4 years or so which would help to reduce the effect of Pension
trusts failing due to underfunding, however he was surprised when told that members could lose up to 50% of their pension through the PPF when age and lump sum
are taken into consideration. Initial feedback from the TU legal team is that there is 'no legal case to answer' but that they will continue to dig! He believes that Ford
will not come to the party with respect to 'saving' the Visteon fund directly or indirectly without being forced into a corner and therefore it is up to the pensioners and
fund members to do the running and get Ford to listen. We need to 'shame and embarrass' them to take us seriously. Unite are supportive of any actions we propose
to take, but we have to do it! We have also been invited to join the next union meeting Roger Maddison Unite National officer has on the Visteon pension fight. Tony
went on to say that the pension fight from the TU is for TU members and we should all make sure that our membership is still current.
It was agreed that the next demonstration will be outside Ford Warley main office and will take place on Thursday 11th June, meet at 07.45 a.m. - this early start is
to make sure we are in place for when the people turn up for work and therefore achieve maximum exposure to our fight. It will also show that we mean business
with Ford and therefore maximum attendance MUST be a priority.
Contact has been made with John Maguire, Belfast convenor and we have agreed to work together to get a better deal for us all. Finally Dennis Varney will meet
with Angela Smith MP for Basildon on Thursday (4th June) to get latest feed back from her on questions she has asked the Pension regulator on our behalf, this info
will be passed on at a later date.
Regards, The Pension Five - (Dennis Varney, Dave Weeks, Dave Coonz, Andy Belch, Trevor Jones) - acting on behalf of all Visteon Pension members.