Strike

Barclays' 25,000 staff are to be balloted on strike action in response to the bank's plans to close its final salary pension scheme.

The staff union, Unite, claims that members are "incensed" at the plan to close the scheme and move members to a defined contribution scheme.

The ballot will be held in August, with any strike action taking place in September.

It is likely that the results of the ballot will be scrutinised by other unions and companies, as many are considering plans similar to Barclays.

Indeed, British Airways announced today that it will take back £300M pledged to its pension fund to pay retirement benefits if the company goes bust as part of a plan to boost its liquidity by £600M. BA's pension fund is estimated to have a deficit of around £3BN.