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Public sector workers are angry at government plans to slash pensions and raise the retirement age. UNISON and the TUC lobbied MPs - who recently voted themselves massive pension increases

UNISON tackles the pensions crisis

UNISON members in the public services lobbied their MPs (Tue 16 November 2004). Why? Because they're angry at government plans to cut their pensions and raise the retirement age to 65.

UNISON general secretary Dave Prentis and members outside the House of Commons

“The one thing that public sector workers used to be able to rely on was their pension, but the government has turned that promise into quicksand,” Dave Prentis said.

Members took part in the TUC-organised lobby of parliament to protect public sector pensions at the House of Commons.

They want their MPs to block proposals to raise the normal public sector retirement age from 60 to 65 and to increase the age at which people can take early retirement from 50 to 55.

This will affect many workers who typically take early retirement before 55 due to the stress of their jobs or who have accumulated enough benefits from service to have the option.

The union has laid out what the government’s proposed changes will mean for local government and NHS staff:

• A council refuse collector who’d worked for 40 years on £12,000 a year would lose £1,534 pension;
  
• An NHS porter on the same salary three years away from retirement would get £122 less a year;
  
• An environmental health officer on 23 years would see their pension fall by £1.458 annually;
  
• And an NHS ambulance worker on £21,000 a year on 36 years’ service would be £846 a year worse off.

“Make no mistake - public sector workers are angry,” Prentis warned MPs.

“Angry because the government’s proposals are an attack on their terms and conditions. And angry because they were told that they would be able to retire on a decent pension at 60. A promise is a promise - but apparently not when it comes to the pensions of public sector workers.

“MPs have voted themselves one of the most generous pensions schemes in Europe. The fat cats of industry award themselves pensions that look like lottery numbers - the sort of pensions their workforce can only dream about.

“The government needs to make good on its promise - starting by suspending the ill-conceived changes to the local government pension scheme. Changes that are scheduled to come into force next year - a year ahead of the timetable for the other public sector schemes. Public sector workers give a lifetime of service, putting up with lower pay and conditions so they should expect to have dignity in retirement. They should not have to rely on means tested benefits just to make ends meet.

“This is not a fight our members can afford to give up. Local government workers pay into the pension scheme for the whole of their whole working lives and yet their average pension is just £3,800 a year - how can you expect anyone to live on even less?”

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