1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
32
33
34
35
36
37
38
39
40
41
42
43
44
45
46
47
48
49
50
51
52
53
54
55
56
57
58
59
60
61
62
63
64
65
66
67
68
69
70
71
72
73
74
75
76
77
78
79
80
81
82
83
84
85
86
87
88
89
90
91
92
93
94
95
96
97
98
99
100
101
102
103
104
105
106
107
108
109
110
111
112
113
114
115
116
117
118
119
120
121
122
123
124
125
126
127
128
129
130
131
132
133
134
135
136
137
138
139
140
141
142
143
144 
T&G warns of battle over pension changes
Page 14
If you've noticed an error in this article please click here to report it so we can fix it.
• by Sally Nash
The Transport & General Workers Union (T&G) is gearing up to do battle on pensions following a decision by cash-in-transit firm Securitas UK to end final-salary pension schemes for all new staff.
Securitas hit the headlines last year when staff threatened to strike over pay; now it has joined a list of major firms like Iceland and Ernst & Young which have recently scrapped final-salary schemes.
Pension scare stories are in the headlines amid fears that workers Face a dwindling pension pot as a result of falling interest rates and declining equity markets.
The T&G's national secretary, road trans port. Danny Bryan {pictured) is unhappy that Securitas made the controversial decision on pensions without consultation; he stresses that the union will fight any moves by transport companies to downgrade pensions: "I would warn any company not to even think about changing final-salary pension schemes because we will defend them legally in any way we can."
However, he adds that there are operators with a good track record on pensions: Uniq and Exel Logistics both have good final salary schemes, for example.
Bryan believes the industry is facing a pensions timebomb in view of the age profile and salary scale of transport staff. Many companies unable to cope with the burden of finalsalary pension schemes are choosing to switch to cheaper money-purchase funds. Stakeholder pensions—designed for anybody earning between 210,000 and I20,000—have so far failed to take off