By Max Clarke
Up to 5,000 staff members at Anglo-Dutch consumer products giant, Unilever, are staging a demonstration in protest of the company’s handling of their pensions.
The staff are members of the Unite union who have recently called off industrial action at British Airways, as well as today publicising a ballot being carried out by their members at Fujitsu.
”With annual UK sales of nearly 2.5 billion euros,” said Unite’s Food and Drink officer, Jennie Formby, “this is a company that can well afford a final salary pension scheme. In 2008 changes were made to the pension scheme that our members were promised made it safe for the future, yet just three short years later management want to do more to drive down the cost of providing pensions.
The dual listed company behind a host of familiar household brands, including PG Tips, Marmite, Dove, Comfort and Surf report some 160 million sales daily, with the UK their second most important market after the US.
Workers from Unilever’s Port Sunlight factory, Port Sunlight research and development and the Warrington plant plan to demonstrate outside the Village Hotel in Warrington from 10-11am, with the message ‘Unilever, hands off our pensions’.
