UNISON chief Dave Prentis, will today challenge any MP aged 65 or over, to
spend a day emptying bins or working as a paramedic, hospital cook or
cleaner. The challenge comes on the back of a study by the National Centre
for Social research for the union, showing that more than 50% of people
aged between 60 and 65 has a longstanding illness, disability or infirmity.
In addition, 28% of those people said it limited the kind, or amount of paid
work they could do.
Dave Prentis, will issue the challenge when he launches the report later
today (28 February) in the House of Commons. The union is calling on the
government to get to grips with the hard reality of people working until
their late sixties, following the raising of the retirement age.
The union is calling for better protection, including flexible working, and
for best practice to be spread, so that people who want to work longer can,
but those who are not well enough are not forced to keep on working. The
union is calling for protection for workers who are ill and on low incomes,
or who don