Chris Herdman BBC Wales News Online

The union representing ex-workers at the Allied Steel and Wire (ASW) plant in Cardiff is considering taking the UK government to court over pension funds.

The Iron and Steel Trades Confederation (ISTC) is meeting with a barrister to decide whether they have a strong enough case to take legal action over the loss of the ASW workers' pensions.

Ex-ASW worker Chris Keating

And if the union does not go ahead with the case, it is believed that individual ex-workers will press ahead with claims for damages from the government.

More than 800 workers lost the majority of their occupational pension as well as their jobs when ASW closed in July 2002.

Spanish steel firm Celsa has bought the company and around 600 workers could be re-employed at the Cardiff sites later this year.

But Celsa will not pick up the pensions deficit, leaving the workers out of pocket, some after decades of paying into the fund.

The ISTC's case is based on article eight of the European Insolvency Directive of 1980 which it believes successive governments have failed to implement in the UK.

The directive requires member states to protect pension benefits in situations of insolvency.

Case

One firm of lawyers has already told the union it has a case and the ISTC is taking further legal opinion before proceeding.

If it goes ahead and the UK government contests the case, it could take several years for it to reach the European Courts of Justice.

Former ASW worker of 33 years, Phil Jones, 54, said: "To the former workers who are aged over 50, recovery of their pensions is the most important thing, ahead of whether they will get their jobs back.

"Many of them had been paying into it for a lifetime."

If our research shows that we have a case, we will take it up on behalf of our members ISTC spokesman

Fellow worker Chris Keating, who is also ISTC branch secretary for the Tremorfa works, added: "We would prefer the government to compensate the ASW workers for their losses rather the union spending years in the courts.

"We are trying to convince them that we are a special case.

"But all avenues are being explored to and we are doing everything we can to get our pensions back."

A national spokesman for the ISTC said it was likely that legal action was the only way that ex-ASW workers would recover their pensions.

He said: "The government is looking at legislation to make sure that situations like ASW never happen again.

"But they have made clear that the legislation will not be retrospective.

"The only way we will get redress is through the courts.

ASW's Tremorfa plant may reopen

"If our research shows that we have a case, we will take it up on behalf of our members."

Members of the ASW pensions action group from Cardiff are meeting with national ISTC officials on 5 February where the next steps in the campaign will be discussed.

Roy Rickhuss, Wales regional officer for the ISTC, added: "We are at the stage where very shortly we will be making a decision.

"The problem with (legal action) is that we are raising people's hopes.

"This is not going to be a quick fix.

"This type of thing takes five or seven years."

Carmarthen East and Dinefwr MP, Adam Price, Plaid Cymru's trade and industry spokesman, originally brought the insolvency directive to the ISTC's attention.

He said: "If the union doesn't proceed with the case, then I know that individual workers are prepared to run a test case."

MP Adam Price believes an EU directive helps the ex-workers

A spokesperson for the Department of Work and Pensions (DWP) said the government believed it met its obligations to the ASW workers.

In a statement, the DWP said: "We meet our obligations under Article 8 of the Insolvency Directive, as successive Governments have done since it was adopted in 1980.

"For example, the Pension Schemes Act 1993 provides that certain unpaid pension scheme contributions can be claimed from the National Insurance Fund, through the Redundancy Payments Service, if an employer becomes insolvent."