Former Independent journalists request increase in pension payments

FORMER journalists at Independent News & Media are asking the company to increase their pension payments.

The workers, some of whom were with the company for more than 30 years, claim their pensions are worth just €40 a week. The former workers want their pension payments indexed to the cost of living.

Kevin O’Connor, a former news editor with the Sunday Independent, said at the company’s annual general meeting in Dublin yesterday that many of the people affected are elderly and had worked extremely hard for the Independent over many years.

The move would have little impact financially on Independent, which made profits of €189 million last year, Mr O’Connor said. “Some people are forced to work for other papers ... to put food on the table.”

Gavin O’Reilly, Independent’s chief operating office, said after the meeting: “This issue is wrapped up with the overall funding of the pension deficit and the company is in discussion with pensions board to look at funding proposals and as a result of that we will be able to take a view on pension indexing.”

He added: “Most of the pension entitlement for those people would be better than most of the other media companies in Ireland. We are a company that has been characterised by being just and fair in our dealings in the past and that is the way it will continue in the future.”

The Independent group’s annual report shows a deficit of €86m and a meeting of the pension fund trustees board will be held last this month to discuss ways of filling the hole.

The company said it netted €100m from the sale of its stake in the mobile services operator I-Touch and Mr O’Reilly said this will be used to pay down part of Independent’s €1.2 billion debt mountain and could also plug the pension fund deficit.

At yesterday’s AGM, chief executive Tony O’Reilly said trading so far had been good with “meaningful improvement” in underlying profits expected this year.

Independent said revenues in the six markets it operates in were running comfortably ahead of last year and that trading conditions remained positive.

“Strong revenue conditions have carried on through the second quarter, and assuming a continuation of these favourable conditions, your board remains confident of a meaningful improvement in underlying profit for 2005,” Dr O’Reilly told shareholders.

A more detailed update on first half trading is due the end of this month.