200 Pfizer employees vote for industrial action in dispute over pensions
More than 200 Pfizer workers in Cork have voted overwhelmingly in favour of industrial action in a dispute over employee pensions,
Siptu-represented operators, lab workers and shift leaders based in the Ringaskiddy operation of the pharmaceutical giant have voted 207 to nine in favour of industrial action, while 203 to 13 voted in favour of escalating that to strike action if a resolution over pensions was not forthcoming.
It is thought the industrial action would include work-to-rule measures.
In September 2014, 900 of 3,300 Pfizer workers in Ireland were told the company wanted to move them from defined benefit pensions to defined contribution schemes.
Defined benefit is where the company alone pays towards the pension fund, while defined contribution is where both employee and employer contribute.
The pensions issue went to the Labour Court and negotiations have been ongoing since. Pfizer said it could not afford to sustain what it was paying into its defined contribution scheme. The company, best known for drugs such as Viagra and Lipitor, is worth about €200bn.
In 2015, up to 20 operators were hired in Ringaskiddy and Little Island but were not put on the same terms as existing workers, who remained on defined benefit schemes as labour relations negotiations continued.
Siptu said the new workers should be treated the same as existing ones and should have started on the same defined benefit scheme as their colleagues until negotiations concluded.
Only when the new employees are put on the same terms will a settlement be forthcoming, those with intimate knowledge of the situation say. One told the Irish Examiner: “This is about fighting for the rights of newcomers who deserve to be treated equally. The ballot is not about pensions at this time, it is about equality for fellow workers.”
The Labour Court recommended in November that the parties engage in a 12-week process to reach an agreement. Pfizer said in a statement it accepted the Labour Court recommendations in 2016 and that it was “disappointed that Siptu has indicated that industrial action will take place”.
Pfizer said the new employees would be on the same future pension arrangements as the existing defined benefit employees when negotiations are concluded.
“The company, as part of its approach to ensuring that future pensions provision for staff is sustainable, is willing to negotiate across a comprehensive range of measures such as contribution rates, timeframes and incentives to move to the defined contribution scheme.”
Pfizer said any defined benefit pension to date will be honoured, that employees on the scheme will keep all earnings until they start on a defined contribution, and that the new agreement would not be retroactive.
Pfizer is one of Cork’s best-known employers, with about 800 working in Cork, spending €312m in Ireland since 2013, including €57m on two new Cork facilities. Up to 130 jobs were to be shed in 2012 as its patent ran out for Lipitor. Those jobs were reprieved in 2014.
Pfizer had anticipated that other companies making a generic version of its cholesterol-lowering drug Lipitor would mean its profits sinking but it continued to make huge profits.
