Food:Forty former Glanbia employees, including senior management, are planning legal action against the company in relation to non- payment of pension increases.

The group, comprising employees of Waterford Foods before it merged with Avonmore in 1997 to form Glanbia, says it has not been paid an agreed 3.5 per cent annual pension increase since January.

Glanbia had been paying the annual increase to the pensioners since 1992 when the Waterford management agreed to waive a 4 per cent wage increase in lieu of a 3.5 per cent increase in pension payments.

However, Glanbia, which has a pension deficit of about €200 million, recently agreed a revised funding proposal with the Pensions Board and unions, which included the removal of future guaranteed increases to pensions in payment for all members.