Ford may face legal fight over pensions promises

Jul 26 2010 by John Hill, The Journal

In a statement, the company said: “The situation for former Visteon UK employees is unfortunate but the responsibility for administering and funding their terms and conditions was Visteon’s, including managing its pension fund.

“Ford’s obligations to its former employees were fully discharged and Ford believes there is no basis for resuming liability for benefits transferred to Visteon.

“Since 2000, Visteon has operated as an independent company supplying parts to Ford. During this period, Ford has taken a number of actions to support Visteon and to assist Visteon in its efforts to achieve long-term viability. These included enabling 560 Visteon employees to return to Ford and providing Visteon with ongoing and new Ford business.

“Despite this Ford assistance, sustained losses meant that Visteon Corporation took the decision to put Visteon UK into administration in 2009. The impact of this for former employees and retirees is very regrettable. However, the contractual responsibility is with the trustees of Visteon UK’s pension fund and the administrator.

“Ford has stated that it will not provide further assistance to affected parties. This position was confirmed at a meeting on January 22 between senior Ford executives, representatives of the Unite union and ex-Visteon employees.

“Ford is currently striving for its own continued viability, which has required difficult decisions, including bringing production in line with reduced demand, releasing agency and temporary production workers and a 2009 voluntary separation programme for approximately 800 employees.”