Unions fight to save Birmingham Airport pensions scheme

Aug 18 2010 by Jon Griffin, Birmingham Mail

UNIONS are battling to save the final salary pension scheme at Birmingham International Airport despite a £26 million deficit facing bosses, it was revealed today.

A 90-day consultation period has now been extended as Unite draws up a series of proposals which could save the blue riband defined benefits scheme.

The extension of consultations has raised hopes of an agreement which could ensure more comfortable retirements for hundreds of workers, with 397 active members in the scheme, including engineers, security, office staff and others.

But if the scheme is scrapped, workers would lose out to the tune of thousands of pounds, with the defined benefits scheme currently enjoying company contributions of over 20 per cent.

Unite union regional official John Partridge said: “The fight goes on – we are as determined as ever that we are going to try to retain a nucleus of a defined benefit or final salary scheme.

“The consultation period has now been extended. We could look at alternatives to the scheme – it could become a hybrid scheme, with part of it defined benefits and part defined contributions.

“Or contributions from members might go up. The rigour with which we are pursuing the idea that we should retain the final salary scheme may be making the airport think again.”

The proposed closure plan at the airport follows a string of similar moves by many companies across the UK, including the NEC Group, Barclays, Tarmac and Morrisons.