Siptu workers at Pfizer call off industrial action

Siptu workers at pharmaceutical company Pfizer have ceased industrial action which had been triggered over a pensions row.

The union’s 250 members at the Pfizer plant in Ringaskiddy, Co Cork decided to put a block on all overtime after the company said 35 new employees wouldn’t be allowed the same pension plan as their colleagues.

Siptu sector organiser Alan O’Leary said that the dispute erupted after the failure of the company to put the new entrants on the defined benefit pension scheme.

However, the company has now relented and agreed to allow the new entrants onto the defined benefit scheme and backdate their entry into it from the day they started work at the plant.

“I’m delighted that the 35 workers are being treated equally with their colleagues. I’m very happy in that respect and as a result the dispute has been resolved with immediate effect,” Mr O’Leary said.

However, he said he was due to meet the union’s committee at the Ringaskiddy plant shortly “to consider its collective position on the future of the defined benefit scheme. In a statement, Pfizer said it welcomed Siptu’s decision to end industrial action and now urged the union to negotiate on proposed pension changes.

Pfizer said it is in the best interest that meaningful negotiations get underway.

The company has proposed the introduction of a defined contribution pension scheme to replace non-contributory defined benefit pension schemes.

Pfizer said that this is for future accrual only and the company will continue to fund the existing defined benefit schemes.

The company claims the cost of funding these non-contributory defined benefit schemes has risen 1,000% since 2009 and these costs are affecting the competitiveness of the Ringaskiddy site.

“This change is part of a global initiative as the environment for defined benefit plans has become very challenging due to the increasing and unsustainable cost and volatility associated with these types of pension plans,” said the statement.

Pfizer said a “generous defined contribution scheme” is being proposed to which the company would also contribute and the company is willing to negotiate all aspects of this proposed scheme. The proposed changes would affect 900 of Pfizer employees in in manufacturing, shared services and commercial operations.

Pfizer’s other employees who have pension benefits in Ireland are in defined contribution schemes and these schemes are not affected.

The company said the proposal doesn’t affect deferred members or pensioners.