Union Unite is to take legal action to get pensions justice for the former Visteon workers who lost their jobs when the car parts firm went into administration earlier this year.

Nearly 1,000 workers at Basildon, Enfield and Belfast lost their jobs when Visteon UK went into administration.

Unite says workers will lose up to 40% of their pensions because they will have to rely on the Government's Pension Protection Fund for their money.

Speaking following a mass rally of Visteon workers held in London yesterday, Unite's joint general secretary, Tony Woodley, said:

"Ford made copper-bottomed promises to the workers before they were transferred to Visteon and we intend to hold them to those promises.

"Unite is calling for an urgent meeting with the chairman of Ford and has already asked the Government's pensions regulator to investigate whether there was inappropriate behaviour that sees thousands of workers having to go into the Pensions Protection Fund."

The government's Pension Protection Fund will only cover a proportion of these workers' pensions and Unite believes the taxpayer should not have to pick up the bill when Ford made firm commitments to protect the workers' terms and conditions on transfer to Visteon.