Workers at outsourcing company Capita will be taking nine continuous days of strike action after a breakdown of last minute talks in a pensions dispute, according to union Unite.
Capita is facing industrial action starting on Saturday 28 October and ending on Sunday 5 November after failed negotiations on the company’s decision to transfer workers from the current defined benefit (DB) pension scheme to a defined contribution (DC) plan.
The changes, which were announced in June, mean staff could lose as much as £8,000 per year in deferred pay, according to Capita’s own figures.
The strike will affect Capita’s contracts with Prudential, Royal London CIS, Phoenix and Royal London in Birmingham and Friends Life.
Unite met with Capita last week to try to find an acceptable settlement, but "unfortunately the employer refused to make meaningful changes to the damaging proposals," the union said.
Unite suspended a planned strike, voted in a ballot in August, to engage in further talks with Capita.
Dominic Hook, Unite national officer, said: “Unfortunately the company has failed to make a reasonable offer to address the concerns of their workforce.
“Capita’s pension proposals will have far reaching consequences for the retirement of many Unite members. Some staff will lose a shocking 70 per cent of their retirement income.”
Capita argued workers haven’t been consulted on the last proposal of the company, since the ballot occurred before this was presented.
The firm requested a meeting with Unite members last week, where it put forward a “material improvement” to its previous offer, it said.
“As we made clear to Unite, because it has chosen to reject the offer on behalf of its members without consulting them, we are now unable to go forward with the revised, materially improved offer and will have to revert to the previous competitive offer,” the company said.
Vic Gysin, group operations and performance director at Capita, said the decision was "unreasonable and clearly disadvantages" the employees.
He said: “We will work closely with the handful of clients whose services are delivered by some of these employees to ensure we minimise any impacts from any potential industrial action.”
Capita is not the only company facing industrial action over a pension dispute.
Royal Mail’s employees had given notice for a 48-hour strike, due to begin at noon on 19 October.
But the postal company won an injunction to block the action, as a judge at the London’s High Court decided that the Communication Workers Union had not entered into a dispute resolution mechanism involving an external mediator, as required under a prior agreement.
BMW also faced a series of walk-outs, as workers voted to go on strike in April over the firm's plan to close its DB pension scheme to future accruals.
A deal was finally achieved in July, when employees accepted a revised offer from the automaker.
maria.espadinha@ft.com
