The Staggers

The New Statesman’s rolling politics blog

Why we plan to strike on 30 November

Raising pension contributions is a hardship tax on public sector workers to pay down the deficit.

By Dave Prentis Published 26 November 2011 13:05

^{A man walks past a sign held by striking public sector workers on June 30, 2011}
^{Source: Getty Images}

Millions of public sector workers are gearing up for the biggest strike in living memory. Government ministers have pushed paramedics, teaching assistants, dinner ladies, nurses and social workers into taking action with their unprecedented attack on pensions.

We are strong, united and determined in our action - and we know we can count on the wider Labour movement for support. UNISON has said from the start that we want to reach a negotiated settlement, and that still stands. UNISON is willing to take part in scheme specific talks, right up until 30 November and beyond - we want a firm offer.

Our members voted decisively for action, but it's not a decision that they took lightly. Most UNISON members are low paid women in the caring professions. They go to work day in, day out, to make their communities better places in which to live and work. Indeed, with pay frozen at a time of stubbornly high inflation, and with Christmas just round the corner, they can ill afford to lose a day's wages. Their vote shows the colour of their anger over ministers' pensions plans to make them work longer and pay more, all for less in their retirement, coming on on top of heavy job and service cuts.

Public sector workers have already been stung by promises made in Parliament that were never delivered. In his first Emergency Budget, George Osborne promised public sector workers earning less than £21,000 a £250 pay boost - easing the pain of the pay freeze. But for low paid local government workers, this money has never materialised. They've been stuck on the pay freeze for two years, which could stretch to three, stretching family budgets to the limit.

There is no public sector pensions crisis - only four years ago, unions negotiated new schemes to make them affordable and sustainable for the long term. The schemes include a cap and share arrangement in health, so that any increase in costs would have to be borne by employees. The reforms also included a higher retirement age of 65, and other measures including higher contributions from members of between 5 and 8%.

These reforms have meant that the cost of public sector pensions, as a proportion of GDP, will fall, costs have been reduced even more by the switch to using CPI rather than RPI to calculate the annual increase in pensions payments. Both the health and local government schemes are in good shape, with billions more coming in than has to be paid out in pensions every year. The local government scheme also provides a huge boost to the private sector, its funds are worth £140 billion, and own 1.75% of the UK's top FTSE companies.

Under the proposals, the low paid will receive only just enough to keep them above the threshold for means tested benefits when they do retire. The average pension in local government is £3,800 a year, but for women, it's less than £2,800 - just £56 a week. More than half of women pensioners in the NHS receive a pension of less than £3,500 a year.

The real scandal is that two-thirds of private sector workers do not get a single penny from their employers towards their pension, whilst top bosses award themselves generous pensions. It is in no one's interest to see workers in the public or private sector living in poverty and relying on state benefits when they retire - that is just storing up more trouble for the future.

We do not believe a penny of the money raised will go towards pensions - it's nothing but a hardship tax on public sector workers to pay down the deficit. The way to rebuild our economy is not to take more money out of hardworking people's pockets. The austerity agenda is killing growth, boosting unemployment - fuelling the downturn. Our members are striking for their pensions - but their campaign for a fairer economic plan, founded in social democratic principles, will continue long after we reach a deal.

Dave Prentis is the general secretary of UNISON

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Tags: Public Sector Pensions strike pensions Trade Unions

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69 comments

Sun, 2011-11-27 19:23 — Microbe

Nov30th2011Strike: The private sector, after all, is wholly amazed by the public sector's success with age-old fights on so many righteous issues and in the present in securing with loyal union support a fair pension that the private sector has latterly had stolen away from them via profiteering private interests…
GET WISE 'YOU PRIVATE GUYS' & UNIONISE!

Fri, 2011-12-02 20:53 — Oliver Bridger (not verified)

small by name, small by nature/mind/thoughts, most dinosaurs are extinct... do you think jeremy clarkson is going to his house for xmas... i would go on but i have a scottish friend and a muslem friend waiting for me at the pub where we might drink some irish beer.. silly man you embarrass us real engineers...
oli

Wed, 2011-11-30 17:10 — Alan (not verified)

Is B. Small a cartoon character? An alter-ego? Whatever, i've not had such a good laugh in a while. Loving the capitalisation that IS GOING ON.

Wed, 2011-11-30 17:26 — Alan (not verified)

Some info on Scotland and its (over)contribution to the UK.

http://www.totalpolitics.com/blog/directory/country/scotland/44783/scotl...

http://newsnetscotland.com/index.php/scottish-news/3652-scottish-indepen...

And some myth busting on the pension issue -

http://www.leftfootforward.org/2011/11/four-myths-about-todays-strike-bu...

Tue, 2011-11-29 14:34 — Ian5

Des quite agree with you, must point out you left out the corrupt ratings agencies who's AAA seal of approval for the duff securities made much of the selling possible. On a brighter note love Judge Rakoff, and his decision against Citigroup. Maybe the chickens are starting to come home to roost. Without this corrupt system most of the worlds economies would be in far better shape..and the missing billions...never existed, just grossly inflated real estate prices. Fingers crossed S&P and its ilk in the dock very soon.

Sun, 2011-11-27 23:24 — PJ (not verified)

i have read these comments with interest. I am one of these 'parasitical' teachers. Yes I am contracted to 1265 hours and yes I get 13 weeks holiday (on paper) a year.

I am in work by 7 each morning, MOnday to Thursday I am still there at 6 pm, once i get home i spend a couple of hours with my family then usually work from 8.30 to 11. On a friday I am out by 4 and dont work again til Sunday. i have just finished working (after starting at 12pm).

You can check my maths - but this has been a 73 hour week and his is a typical week. Teaching is not just about standing in front of the class - it is the preparation and assessmnt of the students we teach.

I am striking on Wednsday - I dont want to as it is to the detriment of the students (the reason I became a teacheer was to make a difference); but have to. i am not wanting more money for the job I do but dont want to lose anymore. I am currently on a pay freeze, so with inflation this is a pay cut - i spnd £240 a month on petrol and cannot afford to lose what will be approximately £65 a month more for pensions.

I think people need to stop listening to the rumours and listen to actual peoples stories!!!!

Mon, 2011-11-28 00:03 — Jash1 (not verified)

I am a she NOT a he. What do you mean my numbers dont add up bsmalls? How can you possibly say that when you have no idea how old I am or how long I have been working for the public sector. I rest my case.

Mon, 2011-11-28 00:07 — Jash1 (not verified)

Well put PJ!

Mon, 2011-11-28 04:39 — Fergus Pickering (not verified)

Get involved with democrcy? What have unions to do with democracy? You joing 'em to protect yourself against bosses.Nothing to do with democracy at all. They are very undemocratic organisations. My wife's unions gave money to striking miners without consulting their membership AT ALL. How's that for democracy. It was also bloody awful at fighting the bosses on behalf of the membership. Posturing lefty twits!

Sat, 2011-11-26 14:43 — Stu (not verified)

I'm not going to comment on figures since we don't know them. The govt claims one thing and the unions claim another.

However, I want to ask you Dave... Do you think it's fair for the unions to strike if only 30% of members turned out to vote for it?

Sat, 2011-11-26 14:50 — Graham (not verified)

I take it Mr Small that you don't think that teachers, care workers, paramedics etc play an important role in society?

Sat, 2011-11-26 15:14 — thanD (not verified)

We need compulsory voting for unions as well as at general elections

Sat, 2011-11-26 15:22 — Grumpy Bob (not verified)

Stu;
I one is going to bandy 30% voting for the strike - using 2010 general election data from Wikipedia, it would seem that 36.1% of the votes in 2010 were cast for the Conservative Party. At 65% turnout, that means just under 23.5% of the electorate voted for the Conservatives and their policies. Not much of a mandate.
I did not vote for the strike as I am not a union member, but I will strike on the 30th.

Thu, 2011-12-01 16:15 — Kevin Eames (not verified)

You've got it, Alan - he's wound us up beautifully, hasn't he? We should have spotted it earlier (nobody can be so furiously resentful and wrong) but we didn't. Respect to the Master of Irony!

Tue, 2011-11-29 18:21 — Kevin Eames (not verified)

Well, that was entertaining. Mr Small is impervious to logic or enlightenment. If he hasn't spontaneously combusted yet through indignation, he'll malfunction pretty soon with a stroke, or other coronary event. Let's hope he doesn't mind being cared for by one of those lazy, overpaid nurses, or lazy overpaid ambulance drivers, educated as they were by those lazy, overpaid teachers, using those roads organised and cleaned by those lazy, overpaid public servants,,,

Sat, 2011-11-26 15:52 — Stu (not verified)

@Grumpy Bob
But this is a yes or no vote... so a majority is over 50%.

30% vote for no, is pretty poor I'm sure a lot of people will agree.

I know it's not a requirement at the moment to have over 50% and i'm not saying don't strike, afterall it's a 'tool' they can use, but please use alittle common sense..

Sat, 2011-11-26 16:29 — Keano1888 (not verified)

B. Small

You are either on the wind up or you are an utter moron. You seem to have every right to be bitter about teachers, as judging by the grammar and general layout of your last comment, you were not very well educated!

Sat, 2011-11-26 17:34 — john henry (not verified)

As I keep saying, Dodgy Dave an his mate Boy Georgie are filthy rich is upper class right-wing twits peddling snake oil about the British economy. Dogy Dave is a default Prime Minister; a right wing thug who is a leading "ghoul"in this Thatcherite nightmare that we a currently living through. Left wing thinking and action is the only way we are going to sort out this mess caused by rampant, retrograde right-wing economics and politics and consign the last thirty years of right-wing orthodoxy to the dustbin of history We have to do it NOW!
Make the Banksters pay for their greed and wild, drunken, reckless gambling with the British economy NOT people who have worked hard in the public sector for most of their working lives to save for a reasonable retirement pension. NO! to paying more, working longer to get less!

Tue, 2011-11-29 20:09 — Luddite (not verified)

"Raising pension contributions is a hardship tax on public sector workers to pay down the deficit".
Raising the retirment age for everyone under 52 is a hardship on all.. So why is the left only interested in defending privilege that most don't enjoy.

Sat, 2011-11-26 18:43 — jankaas (not verified)

it is wrong to imply that the 70% who didn't bother to participate in the ballot means they don't support the strike.

if they did not want to strike then they could have voted against.

no?

Mon, 2011-11-28 15:48 — Joseph Hawkins (not verified)

The reason any criticism is censored is because this is a left-wing publication. it is also rather undemocratic.

Mon, 2011-11-28 15:50 — Ian5

B.Small I really must protest that you continue calling teachers and health service workers non productive...you are a product of both as am I. The quality of that service can be argued, but not the intent of that service. The private sector plumber, mechanic etc that service your car and appliances are not by your definition productive, but heck their hourly rates are certainly capitalist.

Mon, 2011-11-28 16:35 — jankaas (not verified)

"Get involved with democrcy? What have unions to do with democracy?"

the ballot is a form of democracy. your daughter decided she was too busy with her life to participate in the ballot. this i think undermines the little input some workers still have in their pay & conditions.

"You joing 'em to protect yourself against bosses."

but that protection only remains when people exercise their voting rights, no?

Sat, 2011-11-26 19:54 — Fraziel1

B small, you are a deluded buffoon. Scotland is sucking on the English teat is it?Then how come with only 8% of the popualation we contributed over 9% of the uk's tax in 2010/2011? We also get less money per head than London ( with almost twice as many people as scotland so are they sucking at the teat too?) and Northern ireland.I suspect you have been a rather silly boy and have been reading the racist lies in the daily mail,the sun and the telegraph.

And as for union leaders wages, we pay it, it is not public money and we have no problem with what they earn so really you should button it on that subject as union members are happy about what their leaders get paid.

As for the figures re pensions, they are available for all to see and they show the government are lying. pretty obvious for anyone that bothers to read them but most folk would rather read a tabloids crooked numbers and then rant about it, eh mr Small?

Wed, 2011-11-30 23:18 — Kate (not verified)

Why does B.Small have to shout? What a racist bigot. I wonder how he/she would feel if he/she was facing the same situation as public sector workers if he/she was one?

Mon, 2011-11-28 16:51 — Ian5

Fergus, are your refering to the CBI, the Institute of Directors, The Corporation of the City of London, the Law Society, the BMA etc etc etc....these are all unions with one sole aim to protect their membership and obtain the most perks for them.... Oh not called unions, so not included in the diatribe...but that's what they are.. all overpaid and over protected.

Sat, 2011-11-26 20:20 — swatantra nandanwar

Good luck. Hope its mild and brings out a record number onto the streets.
But the fact is we are all going to have to cut back on our pensions one way or the other, including me. That is the way of the orld for the next decade, and we are going to have to accept it, including the 1%.

Tue, 2011-11-29 22:49 — jankaas (not verified)

"So why is the left only interested in defending privilege that most don't enjoy."

ah there's that race to the bottom argument. missed it so!

but the question to those on the right; why carry so much water for the super rich who wouldn't even piss on you if you were on fire?

Sat, 2011-11-26 21:26 — Fraziel1

What a horrible bitter, angry twisted bigot and racist you are mr Small. I feel sorry for you. But in the meantime i will kick back and enjoy the supposed many benefits that i get in Scotland happy and pleased in the knowledge that it upsets bitter old bigots and ignorant little Englanders like you so much.

Tue, 2011-11-29 23:17 — gmac (not verified)

CITIGROUP HEADQUARTERS 2008

'What do we do now Hank'?

'Get them all to pay for it'

'How the fuck will we get away with that!'

'As we always do, divide and conquer'

Sat, 2011-11-26 22:42 — hindle-a

Fraziel1-I am with you with regard to pensions and lies/distortions in the media-we will have to agree to disagree about the same lies and distortions as regards benefits/allowances .I support the Strike

Sat, 2011-11-26 23:38 — Mrs.Josephine Hyde-Hartley (not verified)

But what about people who aren't in a union? How a government and unions get away with devising their schemes without including everyone in the dialogue is a matter of great concern. What about the opinions of those who are currently pensioners or who may have applied for NHS ill-health retirement pension via their G.P ( N.B without fear or favour )?

It seems to me we need a much better scrutiny of the current arrangements and what is going down in pensions provision..in the light of all concerns and through the positively diverse range of perspectives eg women who are to be suddenly saddled with the burdens associated with an extra six, seven or is it eight years of work before getting our pension - and people who can't do their normal job because of ill-health.

Surely our liberties cannot and must not be blown away so arbitrarily by pretentious executive forces -even those following the trends of economic fortune.

Sat, 2011-11-26 23:40 — Freeman2

In B SMALL's world - private school teacher: wealth creating; state school teacher: parasitic drone. Private hospital nurse: wealth creating; NHS nurse - parasitic drone. Interestingly, both the private teacher and the private nurse have made use of publicly funded training before going private, so their bosses are benefiting twice over.

Sun, 2011-11-27 01:06 — Venk

Whilst the public sector employees have a right to strike - don't expect sympathy from the majority of taxpayers.

With 55% of GDP consumption by the public sector having to be paid by the private sector, this is not surprising.

Equivalent payments to pensions in the private sector will fall short of the tax-funded pension payments in the public sector. The public sector is also far more tolerant of poor staff performance, excess sick leave, and generous treatment in terms of early retirement, greater security, etc.

The main problem is the public sector is bloated, not all that poorly paid and have now come to believe they play a graeter role in society than others who have to compete hard in the private sector. Get real or we will be joining the Greeks and Italians soon.

Wed, 2011-11-30 08:22 — Luddite (not verified)

The truth is that most of the world not just Britain has been living beyond its means for decades, but i suppose we can all keep believing in father Christmas.

Sun, 2011-11-27 10:01 — Awake!

B. SMALL
I understand and sympathize with what you say- it is forthright which people can't handle in the politically correct age. What is most important now is package not content, so substance in any ideas tends to be guff hance the mess we're in now. New laws are all fudged so as to try and appease all parties, the actual result being that no one knows where they stand (and multinationals leave, or began to when they coudn't cut thru Brown double speak).
Of course no one here understands what you're driving at since they have never known hardship. Generally the politics here is of envy and usually directed at material things (which means they can never be satisfied)- so u who have done their bit , known hard times, well i get the anger...
None of these people are close to their families-idealogically the left attacks family units always seeming to favour single paren/gay/anything else out of the mathematical norm. U note i use the term 'mathematical normal' because had I just used normal i'd be open to cries from those who don't know what normal means, u being an engineer will know what I mean- unfortunately that's the level of education in UK now-it's so low, they don't even know they don't have an education. If they had spent time with parents and grandparents before they died they'd get it a bit more, alas! as usual, itis the young that will pay.
I'm interested how chats will go at school gates the next day.
Mum p (private sector husband, builder)
mum s (husband is state employed e.g.council worker)
mum p: that was inconvenient- I had to take the day off temping, Dave HAD to get to a site he heard there was a job going and there so scarce...
mum s- well, my man has to strike cos it's so hard right now..
mum p. er, i know it's hard
mum s. yes, but it's REALlY hard...
mum p. yes, i know it's really hard, my husband has been working on/off since 2008... I gettot
mum s. yes, but we're now being asked to put more into our pnsion pot- it's bang out of order...
mum p. Go fuck yourself numpty...

Sun, 2011-11-27 10:05 — Awake!

let's cut the rubbish talk. Dave prentis said above;
We do not believe a penny of the money raised will go towards pensions '
OK?? so he was alway going to strike- there's no negociation possible cos he dosen't think it's about pensions.

Mon, 2011-11-28 20:00 — Ian Baldwin (not verified)

Perhaps the cuts to public sector pensions will be used to pay for the excessive profits that the private sector make on the Private Finance Initiative ? (the rate of return for the companies on twelve large PFI Hospitals was 58%)

Sun, 2011-11-27 11:42 — Luddite (not verified)

B.SMALL: "Why is it, that ANY criticism of these left/wing generated 'earn-no-wealth' public sector workers and their over paid over pensioned jobs gets censored on this blog"

Because the political-left hates free speech and other people points of view..

B.SMALL: The public sector unions are doing to 'our' pubic services what their counterparts in the private sector did to much of our manufacturing industries..

Sun, 2011-11-27 12:56 — Fergus Pickering (not verified)

I said to my daughter, who works for the NHS, 'Did you vote for the strike?' 'What strike?' she said. 'The union will have sent you a ballot paper,' I said. 'I never open stuff from them,' she said. 'Life's too short.' 'Are you going to strike?' I said. 'Of course not,' she said.

Wed, 2011-11-30 13:08 — Pointer (not verified)

@Mr Small. The majority of care workers earn under £8 an hour. For the type of work they do, they are given 15-20 mins to get a person up, washed and dressed. How can you justify dignity and respect for that person when there's no money in the pot to provide?

Sun, 2011-11-27 14:51 — Mrs H (not verified)

B Small.
I feel you are malinformed about the 850 hrs teacher working year. It is 1265 (officially but so much more)! I work as a Head of Faculty in a comprehensive 8am-5pm Monday - Friday, come home, attend to my family and then continue to work from 7-11pm each evening mid-week. I allow myself a day off on Saturday (I hope this is ok?) and now just before 2pm on a Sunday am just about to start marking 60 or so books, then plan for next week. I also attend school during the holidays to help pupils revise and catch up with admin, I take pupils on trips out of school time as I am not able to take them during the school day (budget cuts and cost of cover that I believe pupils should not have to cover!). So if you still insist that I am a parasite, when I work hard, pay into a pension fund that is not guaranteed, and spend most holidays ill due to my job and its demands then so be it. Quite frankly it's not you I need to impress, its the 300 plus pupils I teach and the 1200 at the school that I do my job for. So a polite ask, don't make scathing statements as you are some distance from reality.

Sun, 2011-11-27 16:19 — jankaas (not verified)

@Fergus

"she said. 'Life's too short.'"

i guess your daughter is typical of the current attitude to democracy. rather than get involved, people just can't be bothered to grapple with the tough questions and say what they stand for, and crucially, what they are against.

much easier to pretend someone else will do all the work, make those tough decisions, and so allow your daughter to focus on her own life.

not sure we should celebrate such apathy?

Wed, 2011-11-30 13:45 — gmac (not verified)

MR B SMALL do the world a favour and do a 'Gary Speed'...or how about reading some fucking books and not the papers. Bigoted cretin

Sun, 2011-11-27 16:40 — Fraziel1

Anyone else read b smalls posts and think that he sounds like he is a hald mad nutter just let out of an asylum? people might actually listen to what you say if you didnt write it in such an aggressive foul manner.And what you said about Scots is nothing short of racism. You would not dare say it to any Scots face as you would very quickly find yourself flat on your back. Just another pathetic keyboard bully.

Tue, 2011-11-29 01:14 — Des Demona (not verified)

I'm not striking. I'm not a public sector worker. I'm a stiff on a contract. I'm one of those who can be 'let go' at a moments notice. I have no holiday entitlement. I have no redundancy entitlement. I work at least 60 hours a week with no overtime.
But I support the public sector workers who are going on strike.
The public service terms and conditions should never be dumbed down to that of the private sector.Instead, the private sector should try to live up to the public sector - which isn't that great. But the private sector is geared towards short term gain. Share prices are the new 'religion'. Bonuses are the be all and end all.Don't give me all that bollocks about 'yes but pension funds invest in shares so we are all in this'.
The people with power will always get richer, be it recession or boom - that has been proved in the current morass - and the rest of us pay for it.
It cost the UK taxpayer £800 Billion to bail out the banks. Someone or rather a few people got away with £800 Billion - which pisses on the Tories mantra of a 180 billion deficit inherited from Labour - but who is asking those questions? Who authorised someone to sell billions of dollars of dud mortages,package them up and sell them as securities around the worlds banking system and by doing so destabilise it? Who authorised banks to buy those securities? Had no-one read Liars Poker by Michael Lewis? Written in the 80's?
Probably they had. But given a million dollar commission on a single transaction do you really think yours or mine or anybodys well being is at the forefront of a city boy's mind?

Sun, 2011-11-27 17:28 — Jash1 (not verified)

Well done Mrs H and Fraziel1...yes, I agree with you both! What a lot of hot aggressive air he is blowing out. Probably the only outlet he has, as I cant imagine anyone actually LISTENING to such a verbal tirade. With this he has an almost captive audience. I'm going on strike on Wednesday. I am a teaching assistant and mother of 2, contrary to popular belief, I do NOT take home a big fat wage packet, I earn less than £800 a month for a 30hr working week. I too, often stay longer at work. Not paid. I do NOT get paid for the school holidays, contribute between £40 and £50 a month towards my pension and will be lucky to get £40 a week out of it...if I ever get to retire..just wind your your neck in B.Small ....you are beginning to irritate....the fact is, none of us whether in the public OR private sector should be made accountable for the banks mistakes. This is an opportunity to make a stand for everyone and say we will not be bullied either by the government or the likes of b.smalls of this world.

Wed, 2011-11-30 14:10 — gmac (not verified)

moderator, please remove last comment. i am the owner of this email address and did not send it or approve of its content

Sun, 2011-11-27 17:44 — matthew fox (not verified)

Political free speech, I wonder if Luddite is talking about all that swearing he write on the NS website.

Only last week, Prof Blanchflower had to reprimand Luddite.

I suppose the NS will only tolerate so much bad language.

Sun, 2011-11-27 17:48 — Mrs H (not verified)

B Small, might I ask why you mention teaching hours in Calgary when its the UK teachers on strike? 1265 hours is standard for all English and Welsh teachers in the UK by contract, and pay is clear to see if you go on www.tes.co.uk, it gives you the pay bands. I do not deny I am paid well, but I know (from experience) that I could earn the same in industry. I am striking on Wednesday, and what do I worry about....missing my yr 11 revision class.....but that wont help me when I am 66!