Staff at the Financial Times have accused Nikkei of 'seeking to take £5M a year from staff pension schemes'.

New owners of The Financial Times, Nikkei, have been accused by FT journalists of trying to take £5M per year out of staff pensions.

Japanese publisher Nikkei is attempting to close FT staffs current final salary pension scheme to existing members.

Under Nikkei, members will instead be switched to  a defined contribution scheme.

FT staff have stated that this will cut pension entitlement for the 240 staff in the final salary scheme.

These 240 staff represent 20% of the total number of staff.

Nikkei purchased the FT in July from Pearson, paying £844M for the group.

 

The deal between Nikkei and Pearson is set to be completed by the end of November 2015.

Michelle Stanistreet, NUJ general secretary, said of the situation: “This shabby treatment of staff is far from the behaviour we’d expect from a FTSE 100 company. It is vital that Nikkei now involves itself properly in this consultation process and demonstrates to FT staff that they will be treated fairly and equitably. The main asset Nikkei is buying is the talented and committed team of staff who make the FT such an attractive acquisition – treating them with respect and fairness and not jeopardising their goodwill should be Nikkei’s overriding priority if the sale is to conclude smoothly.”