Time to make a stand on pensions

HUGE anger is building up against New Labour’s attacks on pensions.
Socialist Party members in the unions have been arguing for over 18 months –
and were the first to raise the idea – that at least a one-day public-sector
strike is needed to defend pension rights and the public sector.

Now that call is being taken up and many of the major unions are starting
ballots of their members for strike action against the government attacks,
particularly the raising of the retirement age.

Public-sector unions UNISON, PCS, TGWU, UCATT and Amicus, over one million
workers, are being balloted to take strike action on Wednesday 23 March in
protest at the government’s plans to rob over £100 billion from their pension
entitlement. The Fire Brigades Union and lecturers’ union NATFHE may also
ballot for action at this time.

We could see a major wave of strike action across the public sector.
Millions of workers will want to make a stand against cuts in their pensions,
which mean they will have to pay more, get less and work longer – possibly
until they drop dead in some cases.

Workers in health and education are also affected and will have to take
action in the future to defend their pensions.

Workers in Britain could follow the example of French workers who have been
striking in their millions against their government’s plans to cut back the
welfare state, including pension rights.

Strike action

The strike action will be the first time for decades that the major
public-sector unions have taken simultaneous strike action over the same
issue.

The union leaders have in some cases been dragged into calling this action
and union members must now apply the maximum pressure to ensure their leaders
pull out all the stops to see the strike ballots return as big a majority as
possible.

Then there will need to be a meticulous campaign of propaganda and
organisation to ensure the widest possible involvement of workers in the
strike.

On 18 February – the TUC day of action on pensions – many local trade
unions and trades councils are organising demonstrations or rallies. These can
be used to organise local co-ordinating committees in which Socialist Party
members should play the fullest possible part.

We will be urgently campaigning amongst public-sector workers to ensure
that the action is a big success, rocking the government to its foundations in
the run-up to a general election.

We are producing a pamphlet on pensions, a party leaflet and a poster to
use to intervene and assist the campaign for action.

Our party members have played a key role in bringing about the possibility
of unified action.

We realised that the mood was there for such action and applied pressure on
the union leaders. Our trade union members have played a key role in
co-ordinated negotiation and planning between the unions.

Kick start

A ONE-DAY strike by itself will not necessarily stop New Labour’s attacks
on the public sector but it will be a big kick start to a campaign. There is
only one language New Labour understand and that is the language of action.

There is talk of the unions calling further action after Easter, before a
general election, and that they could continue with that action after an
expected Labour victory in a May election, if the government doesn’t back
down. This is big step forward, even if at this stage it is only a vague
outline designed to increase pressure on the government.

If a further strike materialises, then the pressure must be put on the
education unions, the health sector of UNISON and other unions, who are not
currently balloting for action on 23 March, to join in.

And workers outside the public sector, who have their own grievances over
pensions, will be asking why they shouldn’t be allowed to join in the action.

Threat

It is possible, given such a threat, that the government will find some way
to make concessions or stop the legislative changes to the local government
pension scheme, due to be enacted on 1 April. Although not the end of the
battle, this would be a big victory.

It is important, however, that any concessions that the government is
forced to give are not used to divide the unity of the unions’ struggle, or
leave smaller sections of workers to fight on alone. Any sign of weakness by
the unions, now or in the future, will invite government aggression.

Even if minor concessions were to be made on the local government scheme,
all the proposals the government has for April 2006 for health, education, and
the civil and fire services – affecting over a million workers – would still
be intact.

UNISON general secretary Dave Prentis has stated that despite government
assurances last summer it is now "clear that the decision to increase
retirement ages was not negotiable."

There has never been a better chance for united action to settle the scores
with New Labour over its anti-union, anti-working class attacks and for the
unions to begin to recover the confidence of the wider working class after 25
years of retreats in the face of the bosses’ attacks. It’s time to deliver
action that can advance the interests of working people.