MP Challenges Airline over 'Pension Theft'

1.27.00pm BST (GMT +0100) Mon 14th Apr 2003

MP Vincent Cable has challenged the German airline Lufthansa "to meet its moral obligations to 200 company employees working at the airport who are being faced with a 30 to 40% cut in their pensions".

Vincent Cable has written to the company and to the Pensions Minister and asked MEPs to raise the issue in the European Parliament after some of its longstanding employees, including a lady in Twickenham (Lesley Pollesche) who had recently been transferred to a subsidiary company, GlobeGround, saw a massive loss in the pension entitlement after a financial crisis in

GlobeGround (it is being sued for bankruptcy in France).

"Lufthansa are behaving in the same disreputable way as the American company, Parsons, in Brentford. They have the law on their side; no one is alleging otherwise. "

"But it is absolutely scandalous that employees can give decades of loyal service to a big, blue chip, international company and find they have been off-loaded to another company - netting Lufthansa 74 million Euros - which then promptly defaults on their pensions. Lufthansa made large and increased profits last year of 718 million Euros but rats on its pensioners".

"I don't think it is too melodramatic to say that workers are having their pensions stolen from them. This may not be 'pension theft' in the sense that applied to the Maxwell pensioners, but the end result is the same".

Contacts: Lesley Pollesche 8898 2687: Skyport newspaper 01784 439800