Engage with us plea

Unite announced today (March 3) that it would be balloting members who make the iconic Mini and Rolls-Royce motor cars for BMW after the carmaker refused to lift its threat to close the final salary pension scheme by May 31, 2017, while talks continue.

The German carmakers’ refusal comes ahead of crunch talks involving Unite general secretary, Len McCluskey, senior Unite shop stewards and senior BMW managers on Monday 6 and Tuesday, March 7.

An earlier high level meeting on 20 February at BMW’s Cowley plant saw the union lay out its opposition to the pension plans, which could result in some car workers losing as much as £160,000 over the course of their retirement.

Anger has been mounting among BMW’s UK workforce over the proposed pension scheme closure which comes amid record breaking profits of approximately £6bn for the carmaker, enabling it to lavish nearly £2 billion of dividends on shareholders.

Voting is expected to begin from next Friday (March 10) when ballot papers start arriving through members’ letterboxes and finish on 31 March. The strike vote involves approximately 4,500 workers who are members of the BMW occupational pension scheme working at Cowley, Farnborough, Goodwood, Hams Hall in the West Midlands and Swindon.

“Unite requested that BMW lift its deadline for the pension scheme’s threatened closure so that talks could be conducted in a meaningful way,” said Unite general secretary Len McCluskey. “Unfortunately that perfectly reasonable request has been refused by BMW bosses, who are in danger of miscalculating the growing anger among its UK workforce.

“BMW’s UK workforce is world class making over 260,000 Minis and record numbers of Rolls Royce motor cars in the last year,” he added. “Their hard work and efficiency has contributed hugely to BMW’s record breaking profits, yet now they face losing tens of thousands of pounds in retirement income.

“BMW bosses would do well to heed the growing sense of betrayal over their broken pension promises, which have already seen 96 per cent of workers saying they would take industrial action in a consultative ballot.

“Unite will be entering talks in a positive manner. We would urge BMW to do likewise and engage meaningfully with Unite in finding a solution that safeguards car workers’ pensions and works well for the business.”