The central works council at oil giant Shell has made a last ditch effort to persuade the head of the company’s Dutch unit not to agree to a new pension scheme for new workers.

Shell is planning to go ahead with the scheme without the green light from the workers’ council, the Financieele Dagblad reports on Friday.

The paper bases its claim on a confidential letter from the council to Shell Nederland chief Dick Benschop. Unless the plan is dropped, the council may go to court, the paper says.

Benefits

The new pension scheme involves a switch from defined benefits to defined contributions. This means staff will get lower pensions if the fund’s investments perform badly.

Shell says it wants to make the change to increase the stability of its pension costs and that the new system will not pressure its balance sheet.

By law, Shell can bypass the works council because the new scheme will only cover people joining the company from July 1. MPs who are concerned about the Shell situation are trying to have this changed, the FD said.