Pay 66% more or lose your final salary pensionThe choice facing staff at the Oxford Mail and Times The great pensions robberies of the past few years have seen hundreds of millions of pounds snatched back by companies as they close final salary schemes, increase employee contributions or decrease their own contributions.
Pensions are deferred earnings, and cutting pension benefits is equivalent to a cut in pay.
The latest attack has come from Newsquest, owner of the Oxford Mail and Times, which is proposing that employee contributions to the pension scheme rise by two-thirds in order for staff just to keep the final salary pension rights they already had. The extra contribution represents a rise of four per cent of salary by 2011, equal to between £40 and £53 a month.
Currently two Newsquest chapels are actively opposing the changes. At York, the chapel have a "yes" vote on strike action with a 70 per cent majority on this issue and an even stronger mandate achieved in a parallel dispute over the use of video equipment. Members at York are now considering their options as to how to push both issues forward. Sam Southgate, joint Father of Chapel at the York and County Press chapel, said: "Our chapel members feel rightly angry they will be forking out four per cent in extra pension contributions when Newsquest York is making £4.5 million a year. The changes on pensions also come against the background of a below-inflation pay award.”
Members at Newsquest’s Northern Echo in Darlington, who also voted in favour of strike action over the changes to their pension scheme, have currently delayed taking action while the position elsewhere in the group remains unclear.
Both chapels have shown that members are angry over the planned changes which put Newsquest well out of step with its nearest competitors. A comparative study by the NUJ found that while those in the group's final salary scheme will be paying far more than their counterparts in either Johnston Press or Trinity Mirror, Newsquest was also to put in less in company contributions than its rivals
(see below).
Meanwhile, a fresh way for chapels to resist the attack on their pensions was opened up with a Newsquest group chapel model pay claim that contained a clause for a separate 1% rise to cover the cost of 2008’s stepped contribution increase.
Newsquest chapels are being urged not to let the company get away with leaving new joiners at the mercy of a poor “defined contribution” (money purchase) pension scheme. Again, the NUJ study shows that Newsquest has an inferior money purchase pension scheme than other newspaper groups.
Chris Morley, NUJ Newsquest Group Chapel servicing officer, said: "The position is not hopeless and some chapels have proved they can influence the outcomes, such as at Cumbria Newspapers and the Wolverhampton Express & Star. Although the respective companies forced through closure of their final salary schemes, they were forced to pay a heavier price than they bargained for.
“At Cumbria Newspapers Group a £500,000 compensation pot was supplemented with a significantly improved pay structure after chapel action and at Wolverhampton savings of £700,000 the company hoped to achieve were instead set aside to boost the company contribution rate from 8 per cent to 11 per cent of salary.
“We cannot allow companies to strip away good pension provision to leave members scrimping in their retirement."
Last December, Maggie Hartford from the Oxford Mail and Times chapel was elected in a ballot of Newsquest staff to sit on the board of trustees of Newsquest’s pension scheme.
Newsquest tops the stinginess league with their latest pension proposals
Research conducted by the NUJ shows that Newsquest proposals for its final salary pension scheme are significantly worse than rival provincial newspaper groups.
Newsquest:
Final salary pension (proposed) – Employer 10%, individual member 10%
Money purchase pension (defined contribution) – Employer 1–6% matched funding
Trinity Mirror:
Final salary pension – Employer 15%, individual member 5%
Money purchase pension (defined contribution) – Employer matched contributions of 4, 5, 6 or 7%
Johnston Press:
Final salary pension – Employer 17% (15.5% for some), individual member 5.5%
Money purchase pension (defined contribution) – Employer 4, 6 or 8% dependent on age, individual member 2, 3 or 4%
Wolverhampton/Shropshire Star:
Money purchase pension (defined contribution) – Employer 11%, individual member 3%
Cumbria Newspapers Group:
Money purchase pension (defined contribution) – Employer 2–9% matched funding
AW 2008-01-02
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