Pensions

Reviving action in universities

The congress of the University and College Union (UCU, 8-10 June) voted to resume industrial action over pension cuts for workers in “pre-1992” institutions. A work-to-rule will be reinstated with immediate effect, and a sustained programme of industrial action in autumn will be worked out over the summer and decided upon at a special conference in September. Congress also voted to recognise that the suspension of the work-to-rule, carried at a pre-1992 conference in January, was a mistake. The resumption of industrial action is excellent news and happened in spite of the General Secretary...

Council pensions: who decides?

Trade unions in local government have accepted a “deal” on pensions not very different from what we went on strike against on 30 November. The only actual “improvement” is on the increase in members’ contributions. Contribution rates will, for now, be unchanged for many workers, and lower for some part-time workers, though higher for workers on over £43,00 a year. Among other things, public sector unions have conceded that the retirement age will go up in line with state pension age (so if you're under 37 now that's likely to be 70), as well as the switch to a career average scheme, as opposed...

"68 is too late"

Ten unions have launched a campaign against the Government's plan to make 68 the minimum age for a full pension. The Government has committed itself to increasing the pension age, for the state pension and for public-sector workers' pensions, stage by stage. According to the Telegraph the coalition’s formula for increasing the retirement age means babies born this year will receive their state pension at 80! Research published by the Women’s Royal Voluntary Service has found that 58% of people in the UK have a long standing illness or health problem by the age of 65. Visit www.68istoolate.org...

Train drivers in pensions battle

Train drivers working for East Midlands Trains (EMT) have taken 6 days of strike action in the past 3 weeks to try and prevent the company from reducing contributions to their pension fund. In 2010 an actuarial valuation revealed a funding level of 99.1% and a prediction that if the Joint Contribution Rate (the money paid into the fund by management and workers) stayed the same, then the fund would probably move into surplus. With the current financial turmoil, drivers are rightly concerned that any reduction now will leave a deficit in 2013. The company has been asked to provide an interim...

NUT Exec votes down June strike date

On Thursday 10 May the executive of the National Union of Teachers voted for a recommendation from general secretary Christine Blower and deputy general secretary Kevin Courtney: "That in the light of the responses to the survey of divisional secretaries and in the light of the positive work with the NASUWT the union should not proceed with a one day strike in June". An amendment declaring that "the Executive resolves to comply with policy determined by [NUT] Conference 2012... the union will take strike action in June" fell, with 16 votes for, 24 against, 2 abstentions. Nominally the left has...

Relaunch the pensions fight!

On 10 May the PCS civil service union is striking against the government’s “work longer, pay more, get less” changes to public sector pensions. The lecturers’ union UCU is also striking, in further education colleges and post-1992 universities. Members of the Unite union in the health service will be staging protests and industrial action. There is talk of a further strike, maybe involving the teachers’ union NUT, in late June. To make 10 May a relaunch, and not just a swansong, PCS needs to genuinely place itself on a “war footing”: * vigorous recruiting of new members; * a levy to help fund...

UNISON vote rejects pension terms

Despite the best efforts of the Unison leadership, members in the NHS have voted to reject the government's pensions offer and take “sustained industrial action”. 50.4% of members voted to reject the deal and for more strikes, against 49.5% to accept, on a turnout of 14.8%. Given that the official union propaganda that accompanied the ballot papers obscured the issues, presenting the improved “deal” in glowing terms and scaremongered about the effects of further strikes, this is a surprising result. Whatever else can be said about the vote, this is clear indication that the membership is not...

Mobilise to reject the NHS pensions deal!

NHS members of public sector union Unison are currently voting on whether to accept the government’s deal for reforming their pension scheme. Despite the 30 November strike action, the deal remains a “work longer, pay more, get less” outcome for workers and should be rejected. Red Pill, an industrial bulletin for healthworkers produced by members and friends of Workers’ Liberty working in the NHS, is campaigning for rejection. To download the latest bulletin to distribute in your workplace, visit here .

Strike on 10 May!

The National Executive of the Public and Commercial Services union (PCS) has voted to strike on 10 May in the battle against government pensions reform. Its decision follows the announcement of the health section of the Unite union to “aim for” a strike on that date. Unite now says its 100,000 NHS members will be “staging protests and industrial action” on that date. The Executive of the University and College Union (UCU) meets next week to decide on its participation. The National Union of Teachers (NUT) Executive also meets next week, and will discuss further action. Although this strike...

Taking stock, April 2012

Document for 21 April joint meeting of AWL industrial and trade-union fractions, amended in the light of 21 April discussion. Click here to download as pdf . I An analysis in January 2012 by a right-wing thinktank, the Institute for Fiscal Studies, showed that so far only 12% of the Government's planned cuts to welfare spending and only 12% of its planned cuts to spending on public services have been implemented. There is 88% still to come. The cuts so far have not reduced the government's Budget deficit, because they have depressed most incomes so much as to cut tax revenue even more than...

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