Nia signing letter to the CEO of the Ford Motor Company on behalf of Visteon pensioners.
Nia has joined with other MPs to write to Alan Mulally, CEO of Ford Motor Company. The MPs are asking the company to reconsider its stance towards thousands of people with regard to their pension provision following the collapse of Visteon in 2009, when it emerged that the Visteon UK pension fund appeared to be underfunded to the tune of around £350m. This resulted in many of the pensioners receiving reduced pensions, in some cases losing almost 50%.
Speaking up in Parliament, Nia has been very critical of Ford and the events which have led to former Visteon workers losing out. Commenting on the letter, Nia said, ” We believe that a firm like Ford, which likes to pride itself on its good name, has a moral duty to put matters right and make good these losses, losses which will affect the former Visteon workers month after month for the whole of their retirement. Just because the bosses are miles away in the USA, they should not think they can just ignore the problem. We are certainly not going to let this matter rest.”
Those who lost their pension believe that Ford did not take enough care of its employees when they were transferred from Ford to Visteon UK at the time of spin-off in 2000. In particular, they feel that their transferred pensions were mis-sold to them and that assurances which were given at the time by Ford turned out to be meaningless. This issue is the subject of legal action here in the UK and will be tested in court at some time in 2014.