NEWS FROM EFFAT For immediate release Brussels, 8th December 2011 European workers join together to tell Unilever - hands off British pensions! Representatives of Unilever's entire European workforce sent a joint message of solidarity to their colleagues in the UK today and insisted that the company must scrap its plans to axe their final salary pension scheme. Unilever, the food and household goods giant, whose brands include Ben and Jerry's, Lipton, Hellmann's, Axe, Dove and Cif is pushing through plans to downgrade the UK company’s pension scheme in a way that will see the retirement income of thousands of its staff slashed by up to 40 per cent. Hermann Soggeberg, chairman of the European Works Council and the senior representative of Unilever's German workforce visited Unilever's historic Port Sunlight plant in England today with EFFAT TNC Officer, Simon Cox, to deliver the message of support from workers in more than 20 other European countries. Mr Soggeberg said: “In the UK company pension schemes are especially important because the government provides a much smaller part of the pension package than in other countries. Our colleagues in Unilever UK are counting on their pension scheme to support themselves and their loved ones in old age and Unilever is making a big mistake in trying to snatch it away from them like this. Indeed it does not surprise me that they now find themselves poised to have the first ever national strike in Unilever UK. The representatives of workers from all the other countries on the European works council fully support our British colleagues in their fight”. For more information, contact EFFAT TNC Officer, Simon Cox: [email protected] (+32) 478 69 02 96 *ENDS* Notes to Editors: EFFAT is the European Federation of Trade Unions in the Food, Agriculture and Tourism sectors. We represent 120 national trade unions from 35 European countries with more than 2 600 000 members. To view a copy of the Solidarity Declaration click here The Unilever European Works Council (UEWC) represents over 30 000 Unilever workers from Austria, the Baltic States, Belgium, Czech Rep, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, the Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden & Switzerland; as well as the United Kingdom. Contact: Codruta-Liliana Filip, EFFAT Press Officer, Tel: +32 (0)2 209 62 60, Email: [email protected] .