Striking outside the biggest hospital in Wales, pharmacy department technician Rachel Noble exclaimed: “It’s unfair that we are being penalised for other people’s mistakes. We work hard and we should not have to live in poverty when we retire.”
Ms Noble, who has worked at the University Hospital of Wales in Cardiff for eight years, went on: “It is not our fault that the country is in a terrible state. It was not us who gambled all the money away.”
Also on the picket line, fellow hospital worker Rachel Lloyd-Jones added: “I can’t afford to work longer, pay more into a pension and get less when it’s time to retire.
“Ministers are not taking into account the lives of the general public, especially the impact on families. I have spoken to patients and they are supporting us – they understand a strike is the last resort.”
Former miner Mike Jones, who joined the NHS 20 years ago after his colliery closed down, observed: “One of the attractions of joining the NHS was the pension. To find my retirement plans have been put back is very upsetting. I am 48 and now I will have to work until I’m 66.
“My pension contributions are going to increase by 3%. We have not had a pay rise for two years and now the pay rise is going to be capped at 1% for the following two years.”
UNISON branch chair Stuart Egan commented: “We need to send a clear message that what they are trying to do to our pensions is unacceptable. People have been planning financially for their retirement and this government has just torn things up.
“The NHS pension is £3bn in credit and our pensions are affordable. We are being asked to pay for those greedy bankers who are still receiving their bonuses. The average pension for a woman worker is just £3,600 a year.”