Dagenham Ford pensioners stage angry protest

Around 100 retired Ford workers have staged an angry protest at the company’s headquarters over planned pension cuts.

The men, who have worked at plants across the country, including Dagenham, are furious over Ford’s proposal to change the way pension inflation is calculated - which they claim would cost them thousands of pounds.

The protest, at Ford’s offices in Brentwood, took place as union representatives - who are threatening strike action - and the car giant’s director of HR met to discuss the issue. A resolution was not found and a further meeting is due to take place in the first week of April.

Dagenham stamping plant convenor, Mark Stephens, who was at the meeting, told the POST: “Ford said they did have an offer for us but it would only affect current workers not pensioners. We told them we are only interested in an offer that involves current and former workers.

“We will meet again in April and if we can not come to an agreement then we will go ahead and ballot 11,000 workers across the country.”

Union members are against plans by Ford to tie pension increases to the Consumer Price Index (CPI) instead of the Retail Price Index (RPI).

Jim Brinklow, 68, a pensioner at the protest who worked at Dagenham Ford for 19 years, said: “I feel very let down by Ford. You put years of hard work into the company and then get kicked in the guts like this. It’s not right.”