WORKERS from WH Smith will stage a protest in the town centre over plans by the high street giant to scrap its staff pension scheme.

The demonstration outside the WH Smith store in Regent Street on Saturday is being organised by officials from the union Amicus who are appalled at the way the company is shutting its final salary pension scheme and replacing it with a money purchase alternative.

Amicus says WH Smith, which employs hundreds of people at its headquarters in Swindon, has rejected outright various alternative proposals made by the union.

It says the firm has failed to offer a decent comparable pension scheme for staff and accused WH Smith of offering pensions that threaten their workers with poverty in retirement.

Under the proposals, the Greenbridge-based retailer will cut future service contributions by as much as 70 per cent.

And Amicus has branded the move disgraceful, particularly as the the firm has had a successful 12 months in terms of sales.

"The way WH Smith has handled the pension scheme is appalling and this has been going on for a long period of time," said Amicus' GPM regional officer, Garry Owen.

"This is the company that took a pension holiday where they did not contribute anything to the scheme in 2002.

"In 2004 there was a proposed takeover of the company and the only reason they backed out was because of the size of the debt in the pension scheme.

"They have been really devious with their employees.

"We have estimated that some people could lose up to 70 per cent of their pension and I suppose on average that figure is about 40 to 50 per cent.

"It is a huge amount of money and is the equivalent of the amount of money people lose when their scheme has gone bust.

"The reason why Amicus has opted to highlight the effect of these pension changes is because, unfortunately, some of our members don't always realise the impact these changes are having until a few years down the line when they see their statements."

WH Smith announced earlier this year that 11 per cent of its 23,000-strong workforce would be affected by the pension changes.

It said the long-term costs of running a final salary pension scheme continued to be high and difficult to predict due to low investment returns and members living longer.

At present it has a £41m deficit in its pension scheme, but an ongoing deficit-funding plan has also been agreed with the company paying an additional £10m a year into the retirement pot over the next five years.

The firm said the changes would affect all levels of the company and would be subject to a consultation period with employees and their representatives.

Nobody from WH Smith was available to comment on the forthcoming protest.