Barclays threatened with strike over pensions

17th Jul 2009 11:57

Barclays' staff are so angry at the bank's decision to close its final salary pension scheme they're preparing to vote on possible strike action.The Unite union will hold a ballot in August, with any strike action likely to take place the following month. Ninety-two percent of employees told the union they wanted to be balloted by Unite on industrial action. About 18,000 workers will be affected by the plan to shut its final salary scheme to existing members, announced by chief executive John Varley last month.He told staff the current scheme had become "untenable" following a swing to a deficit of £2.2bn from a £200m surplus just a year earlier."It is unacceptable that Barclays is proposing this unilateral change to workers' pensions," Derek Simpson, Unite joint general secretary, said. "Unite members will not stand by as their employer rides roughshod over their retirement security.""The long-serving and dedicated workforce view this pension proposal as a betrayal by their employer."There are over 25,000 members of Unite within the bank, working in branches, processing centres, call centres, computer centres, Barclaycard centres and the offshore Islands and Gibraltar."Unite has proposed viable alternatives to Barclays in order to make the cost savings the company argues are essential for the pension scheme to be viable," said Simpson. "The company has failed to engage with the union on these suggestions.""We would urge Barclays to go back to the drawing board in order to avert damaging strike action."