In the midst of the growing number of major employers in Britain – such as John Lewis – closing their once-traditional final salary pension schemes in the last year or so, the major aero engine and power generation company Rolls-Royce bucks the trend and has taken the brave decision to support its British workforce and maintain its final salary pension scheme.
Management of the scheme has been quite prudent, according to local union officials. During the major re-structuring of the company’s operations the pension scheme was reconfigured, resulting in the potential for the scheme to remain in place for at least the next five years.
Unite members are due to ballot on the latest proposals to re-structure certain sections of the scheme.
While the company used a voluntary severance scheme to lose a significant quantity of experienced engineers during previous re-structuring in 2015, it also needs to retain a skilled workforce in Britain. Union officials suspect this might be the reason for the pension offer.