r Hywel Francis MP with local Visteon Pensioners Action Group members Carl Kirby of Cwmafan (centre) and Don Paddison of Swansea
Aberavon MP Dr Hywel Francis greeted members of the Visteon Pensioners Action Group yesterday as they marched to Parliament today. He was pleased to hear that Unite the Union has reached a settlement with Ford Motor Company to compensate the former Visteon employees for the loss of value of their pensions.
The value of the Visteon employees’ pensions was slashed when the car parts manufacturer, owned by Ford, went bust in 2009. Since then, the Group has been campaigning, with Unite the Union and with the support of Dr Francis and his fellow MPs, for compensation.
Dr Francis said,
“I was delighted to meet former Visteon workers from Aberavon and around the country, and to hear that today a potential deal has been struck to compensate them for the loss of value of their pensions.
“I offer my thanks and congratulations to Unite the Union and its members, which has fought for this. I would also like to pay tribute to my fellow MPs, from all political parties, for their involvement in this campaign. It has been a long battle, but I am pleased to see that hopefully Ford has finally done the right thing and their former employees will be able to rightly benefit from the pensions they earned. The former Visteon workers will obviously have to examine carefully the detail of the offer as they and their families have suffered enormously and need to secure their futures.
“The biggest achievement, of course, has been by the former Visteon workers themselves and their Union, Unite. My constituents, like Carl Kirby of Cwmafan, and shop steward Rob Williams, originally of Glyncorrwyg, have campaigned consistently for many years for justice for themselves and their colleagues and I sincerely hope this will be achieved.”
