STRIKING arms workers went to Parliament yesterday to lobby MPs over an attack on their pensions, branding it a “betrayal” of a long-standing government pledge to protect their retirement income.

A meeting in Portcullis House was attended by Labour’s former shadow pensions minister Angela Rayner and MP Ian Lavery, who both voiced the support of the party for the Atomic Weapons Establishment (AWE) workers’ cause.

Hundreds of employees were on strike at two Berkshire sites of AWE, a consortium of Jacobs Engineering Group, Lockheed Martin and security company Serco, following an initial 24-hour walkout on November 14.

The company wants to close its defined pension scheme at the end of this month and replace it with an inferior alternative that has a lower rate of company contributions, Unite regional officer Bob Middleton said during the meeting.

It is using the excuse of a £748 million pension deficit to try to justify the change, Mr Middleton added.

Some AWE workers handle deadly materials such polonium, but their basic salary of £22,000 means that they could not afford to increase their pensions contributions to enjoy a retirement free of poverty, said Unite south-east region secretary Jennie Formby.

Unite reps said staff were furious with the government, which has reneged on a “copper-bottomed guarantee” given by ministers in the early 1990s that their pensions would be protected.

Mr Middleton said: “The then Tory government made cast-iron promises to AWE workers regarding the future of their pensions once they transferred to the private sector. Our members feel deeply betrayed.”

Ms Rayner condemned the Ministry of Defence for “undermining a fundamental promise,” since the proposed changes would mean that the workers would be in line for a pension that could barely keep them out of severe hardship.

She said it was vital that the industrial action continued if necessary because the workers’ fight could make a difference to future generations if bosses continue their “race to the bottom” on pensions.

Unite general secretary Len McCluskey said he would authorise a doubling of strike payments “for as long as it takes, because they cannot starve members back to work.”

A whopping 92 per cent of the workers voted to strike to defend their pensions.