AROUND 1,200 Jaguar Land Rover (JLR) workers in Halewood could be balloted for strike action in a dispute over pensions.

Unite the Union is demanding the company drops proposed changes to its pension plan for ex-Ford workers at the Halewood plant.

The union is set to meet with JLR senior management next week and says it will ballot members for strike action unless the proposals are pulled.

JLR is planning to change the way inflation is calculated to affect pensions by using the consumer price index instead of the retail price index.

Unite claimed if pensions had been linked to CPI for the past 20 years they would now be 14% lower.

Around 1,000 ex-Ford workers who draw a company pension would also be affected, according to Unite national officer Roger Maddison.

Mr Maddison said the company has performed a U-turn after initially suggesting workers wouldn’t be affected by Ford’s pension proposals back in April.

He said: “We won’t allow this to happen.”

A JLR spokesperson said: “This situation has arisen because of legislative changes to the statutory method of calculating pension increases. Discussions between JLR and the unions are ongoing.”