Element Six acted with ‘indecent haste’ over pension

A GROUP of deferred and retired members of the Element Six Defined Benefit Pension Scheme have accused the company of acting with “indecent haste” in its move to wind up the scheme.

They have also said they will “report this grave funding matter to both the Pension Board and the Pension Ombudsman as the statutory body for regulation of the pension industry in Ireland”.
Last week, Element Six confirmed the scheme had closed. “The alternative pension arrangements offered by the company for all members provide fairness, certainty and stability for all members of the Pension Scheme. With greater stability and security, the business can now look to the future and continue to invest in the Shannon site,” it claimed.
The company’s production director, Ken Sullivan, said, “The company believes closure of the scheme was the right decision to take in the best interest of all of the members, as the scheme’s deficit was growing and unsustainable and action needed to be taken to resolve the issue once and for all.”
However, the former employees don’t see it quite like that. “The company has shown no willingness to engage and negotiate with the trustees or the pension scheme membership since they signalled their intention to wind up the scheme in October, without honouring the debt due. Indeed, they have stated they will close the site and withdraw their offer if the trustees do anything other than accept their offer, which they deem to be the maximum they can afford. Their approach has been one of bullying and threatening the members of the fund and their representatives,” they claimed in a statement.
They claimed Element Six have not treated them properly. “This attempt by the company to wind up the defined benefits pension scheme without paying the debt due is totally and utterly in contradiction of the De Beers/Element Six widely published corporate values and indeed their proposed actions will also breach the trust deed to which they are a party and to which they have affixed their company seal.
“Further, De Beers/Element Six continue to link industrial relations matters and even the company’s continued operations at Shannon to their legal obligations under the pension trust deed and rules.”
The pension scheme members asked if there was a link between events in the wider corporate world and the winding up of the scheme. “One could question the haste to wind up the DB Pension Scheme without honouring the debt owed and its links to this proposed sale of the Oppenheimer family 40% stake in De Beers to Anglo American Corporation.”
The statement claimed they are hitting former workers very hard. “The company are avoiding approximately €100 million of debt by writing off all future increments in pensions and reducing all deferred pensioners benefits by up to 50% per annum, depending on future investment returns.”