Wednesday 16 January 2013

Visteon Collapse Fourth Anniversary Demonstration Planned

Stephen Metcalfe MP addressing a previous Visteon Pensioners demonstration

Today in Parliament, Stephen Metcalfe, Member of Parliament for South Basildon and East Thurrock, and Chairman of the All Party Parliamentary Group in support of Visteon Pensioners heard about the Visteon Pensioners Action Group (VPAG) plans to demonstrate outside Parliament to commemorate the fourth anniversary of the collapse of Visteon.

Four years on from the collapse of Visteon, the former Ford parts manufacturer,  MPs from across the country and across the political divide are again calling for Ford to do the right thing and live up to their moral obligations to their former employees, many of whom lost much of their pension when the business collapsed in March 2009.

Visteon was the automotive parts division of Ford Motor Company whaich was spun off from Ford in 2000.  The UK arm (Visteon UK) subsequently went into administration in 2009 resulting in the loss of over 500 jobs and leaving many ex-employees with either reduced or frozen pension rights.

In support of the pensioners, earlier this year an APPG was established with a view to looking at the background of the collapse of Visteon, the effect it had on its pensioners and ex-employees and to look at whether Ford has a duty of care to its ex-employees.

In a recent Parliamentary debate, Stephen Metcalfe Chairman of the APPG later commented: “This is about Ford doing the right thing. As I said in the debate, I have great respect for the company. It has a long and noble history in this country – but even the best businesses can make mistakes. Ford, in this instance has got it wrong and they must stand up and take responsibility for their actions. I will continue to fight until justice is served for the Visteon Pensioners.”

During previous demonstration MPs have shown their support for the Visteon employees by meeting with them during the demonstration and this year will be no exception.  The APPG will be coordinating with VPAG to try and encourage as many MPs as possible to show their support.

Stephen  said: “I hope that the Visteon Pensioners will one day get the pensions they are rightly entitled to.”