British Airways (BA) employees will have to pay an extra £37m a year into their defined benefit (DB) pension funds under new proposals agreed between BA and its three unions.
Existing BA employees will have to contribute a further 4.5% of their pay in order to keep their benefits at the current level. A spokesperson from BA said: “[Employees] can keep their contributions at the current level but will receive fewer future benefits.”
BA has concluded consultations with its joint trade unions (Balpa, GMB and Unite) on the future benefits of its DB pension schemes, which will now be put to union members.
A spokesperson at Balpa said: “We are welcoming the agreement, which has been unanimous across all unions. We recommend that it is accepted and we believe that it will be accepted.”
The new benefit structure will be proposed to the trustees and form part of the negotiations towards a recovery plan that is expected to be presented to The Pensions Regulator by 30 June 2010.
A statement from BA said: “The proposals are intended to avoid the closure of the pension schemes and maintain BA’s contributions at the current level of £330m per annum.”
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