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Steelworkers to tackle Minister over pensions

00:00, 03 October 2002

SHEPPEY steelworkers, facing huge pension cuts, are to meet a Government minister to demand changes in pension law.

The ASW Sheerness workers are angry about the decision to wind up their final salary pension scheme after the company went into receivership in July.

Now the workers, who face the worrying prospect of losing a large percentage of their pension contributions, are at the centre of co-ordinated moves to win pension law reforms. They will travel to Westminster on Tuesday, October 15 - the day after Parliament reassembles - to join colleagues from the ASW plant in Cardiff.

They will be met by local MP Derek Wyatt who has helped arrange meetings with Pensions Minister Ian McCartney and the Prime Minister's industry adviser Geoffrey Norris.

The meetings have been timed to coincide with a House of Commons adjournment debate, a technical procedure allowing MPs to air grievances, on the pensions scandal.

The debate has been initiated by Mr Wyatt. He has also drafted a parliamentary petition - which can only be presented by an MP on behalf of constituents - for ASW employees at Sheerness to sign.

Other moves in the campaign include a House of Commons 'early day motion,' another technical procedure to gain political and media notice. Many MPs are expected to sign it.

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