Hundreds march in pensions fight

Apr 2 2007 By Lisa Smith, Birmingham Mail

HUNDREDS of workers who lost their jobs and their pensions when a Bromsgrove firm folded took to the streets to mark the anniversary.

Former employees from United European Forgings, or Garringtons works as it was known, took up placards and banners and walked from Bromsgrove Council House to the site in Sherwood Road to mark the day five years ago when their factory closed.

The forge works, which at the time was the biggest in Europe, used to employ more than 3,500 workers but all lost their jobs when UEF went into liquidation in 2002.

The march was organised by the trade union Amicus, whose members are still fighting for the pensions they lost along with their jobs.

Although the union has helped most of the workers recover about 85 per cent of their savings, the campaign to reclaim the rest goes on.

As the walkers snaked the two mile journey to the site, now being redeveloped as a retail park, many chanted for the right to salvage their pensions.

Graham Goddard, Amicus deputy general secretary, who helped organise the march, said: "We will not give up the fight until all the workers achieve pensions justice."