Unite is to sue British Airways under European human rights legislation for withdrawing travel perks from cabin crew who took part in strike action earlier this year at the same time as it prepares for legal action against Ford.
The union believes that the move by BA was taken without proper disciplinary procedures being followed. It has become a last sticking point in resolving a long-running industrial dispute, which has seen the airline lose an estimated £150 million following 22 days of strikes.
Unite is to meet BA at the offices of the conciliation service Acas next week for further talks after the company’s latest offer was rejected by a 2:1 majority in a consultative ballot undertaken earlier this month.
Staff were unhappy that, although the airline had offered to restore travel concessions, those who went out on strike would be treated as if they had just joined the company, losing the benefits they had accrued from previous service.
The move came as union lawyers also sent a letter to US car manufacturer Ford giving notice that it was “seeking compensation from the company for providing misleading advice to Ford workers who transferred to Visteon UK” in May 2000.
Unite has been preparing for legal action for the last six months over the pension rights of 3,000 staff, who transferred to Visteon UK, but subsequently lost their jobs after it went into administration in March 2009. They were warned at the time that they could lose up to 45% of their pension entitlements.
But the union claims that workers were provided with “misleading” information by Ford, which told them that their accrued pension rights would be secure if they transferred to the Visteon pension scheme. As a result, it plans to press ahead with legal action if no agreement with the manufacturer is reached.
Unite’s national officer Roger Maddison said: “Hundreds of workers, many of them close to retirement, were sacked at a minute’s notice and lost their pensions. We believe Ford misled many of these workers leading them to believe their pensions were safe with Visteon. Ford failed to clearly set out the risks associated with transferring the assets staff had built up with Ford – now many workers face vastly reduced pensions.”
But Ford said in a statement that it had met or exceeded its obligations to workers when Visteon became fully independent. “The situation for former Visteon UK employees is unfortunate, but the responsibility for administering and funding their terms and conditions was Visteon’s, including managing its pension fund,” it said.
Its obligations to former employees had been fully discharged and Ford believed there was no basis for resuming liability for benefits transferred to Visteon, the statement added.
