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From The Socialist newspaper, 19 March 2005

Why we voted to strike to defend pensions

TENS OF thousands of public-sector workers have voted to strike to fight the government's attempts to raise their retirement age and make them pay more for an inferior pension.

The ballots show votes for action ranging from 67% to 87% by members of civil service union PCS and local government unions UNISON, Amicus, TGWU and UCATT. GMB members are still voting in some areas, but a majority for action is expected.

National Union of Teachers members and members of other teaching unions, are likely to follow suit in the next few weeks.

Trade unionists from across the public sector spoke to the socialist about the anger of their members over the pensions issue.

Local government

THE KEY to the pensions struggle is the unity that can be forged across the public sector trade unions. People object to having their pensions being used as a political football for the benefit of the New Labour government.

Blair thinks that he can tough it out and show how hard he is with the trade unions. His problem is that he looks at the trade unions as just another pressure group.

But taking on pressure groups is totally different from taking on big sections of the working class. I think Blair may well learn that lesson over the next few months.

Roger Bannister, member of UNISON's national executive council

THE GOVERNMENT'S attack on their pensions has created massive anger amongst council workers across Scotland.

These workers are ready to take action to defend what is of course their "deferred pay", and many are becoming increasingly disgusted by Labour politicians implying that pension entitlements are somehow a gift rather than a right based on a worker's own contributions and conditions of service.

Workers are also making the connection between Labour's unlimited pot of money for war and destruction in Iraq and the claims that: "the country cannot afford public sector pensions".

Brian Smith UNISON Steward, social work department Glasgow city council

MY UNISON branch sent a letter to our local MP, Hazel Blears, about the changes to the local government pension scheme. Her reply, which stated it was: "dictated by Ms Blears and signed in her absence" was in fact identical to a government newsletter.

If she can't be bothered to send a proper reply to a 5,000-strong UNISON branch, imagine how she feels about individual constituents!

Robert Jones, Salford city UNISON, personal capacity

Education

I HAVE rarely experienced such a strong feeling on any issue, as on the issue of pensions. Members feel they've been let down badly and cheated by this government. I've addressed a number of meetings in the past week, including the very well-attended conference of NATFHE in Wales, where over 100 representatives from colleges and universities were present.

That meeting unanimously agreed to campaign for massive 'yes' vote in the ballot. And to my knowledge where the same motion is put in workplace meetings, it's been carried enthusiastically and unanimously.

Andrew Price, NATFHE national executive council member for Wales

THE NATIONAL Union of Teachers (NUT) conference this Easter will be united in wanting the debates on pensions to take centre stage.

We have to voice the anger of teachers who know that the stress of working in our underfunded schools leaves many struggling to work on until 60, let alone 65. We have to appeal for teachers in other unions such as the NASUWT to join our action.

Most of all, delegates will want news of our debates to reach teachers back in their homes. Hopefully it will be just the reminder members need to make sure they return the strike ballot papers which will be reaching them over the Easter holidays.

Based on the 70% support for one-day strike action in the union's indicative "survey", the union can be confident of winning support for the action, planned for the beginning of next term.

Martin Powell-Davies, Lewisham NUT conference delegate

NHS

THE MEMBERS have a totally different attitude on pensions to that of our union leadership. The Health Service Group Executive has voted against any ballot on action or even any vote on a vote.

The response we've had on that, particularly since we've learnt that our branch secretary was one of those who voted against taking any form of action, has been one of great anger. There's been emails flying around all over between different ambulance stations.

We've got an annual general meeting coming up and we should see fireworks there, that's for sure. The membership is not very happy at all with the way the bureaucracy has acted on this. They want to be consulted and they want to prepare for action on pensions.

They're still very much in the dark about Agenda for Change [the new grading scheme for the health service]. And they don't know much about the detail of the pensions issues, apart from the fact that they know they're under attack.

Now they learn that their union leadership has blithely gone ahead, ducking and diving and trying to keep out of the way of any form of action. They're very angry about that because they weren't consulted.

Steve Harbord, Ambulance station UNISON rep

Bosses rob private pensions

WORKERS IN private companies have suffered many attacks on their pension rights. There has been a big drop in the number of workers entitled to any sort of company pension at all over the last six years. Less than one in five of workers in the hotel and restaurant sector has any pension. Two thirds of men working in the construction sector have no pension.

During the 1980s and 1990s, when share prices were high, the Tories encouraged the bosses to take pension 'holidays' - that is to stop paying into company pension schemes. The workers of course had to carry on paying. The TUC estimate that between 1987 and 2003, bosses robbed over £20 billion from workers' pensions.

Bosses also increased their profits by about £4 billion by ending final salary pension schemes, affecting over two million workers.

Further pension scandals include:

Pension mis-selling in the 1980s. The Tories removed the need for occupational schemes to be compulsory. Some finance companies saw an opportunity to make a quick profit and sold inferior pensions to thousands of workers. Many are still fighting for compensation.

Robert Maxwell, the former owner of the Daily Mirror Group, used the workers' pension fund to try to shore up his ailing company in the early 1990s. Maxwell committed suicide but thousands of pensioners are suffering from this robbery.

40,000 existing and former workers at Turner and Newall are facing losing their pension. The US owners of the car parts firm, Federal-Mogul have withdrawn their offer to continue funding the pension scheme.

If the scheme is wound up, it would be the biggest closure of its kind and it would mean existing workers getting less than 40% of what they were expecting.

Federal-Mogul was forced into bankruptcy protection because of its liabilities for paying claims from former workers with asbestos-related health problems.

Similar stories can be told by former workers at companies like ASW, United Engineering Forgings and Dexion.

Job cuts threat to pensions

JOB CUTS in Labour's pensions service would undermine efforts to increase the take-up of means-tested retirement benefits.

That was the warning from Parliament's work and pensions select committee, which told the government to tackle a severe drop in the number of pensioners collecting its top-up pension benefits before shedding hundreds of staff.

The pension credit scheme was introduced in 2003 to provide a minimum income for poorer pensioners and also reward private savings.

2.65 million pensioner households, out of the 4.25 million thought eligible, have signed up for this means-tested benefit.

So 1.6 million pensioner households are missing out on the extra income. Last year Department for Work and Pensions figures showed Britain's poorest families failed to claim up to £4.5 billion in means-tested benefits.

Charities like Help the Aged have taken the government to task for its plans to cut pension service staff numbers by 60% over the next seven years rather than taking action "to help pensioners navigate through its highly complex system of means-testing."

The committee said the cuts are already hitting frontline services, with local advice surgeries closing and 400 staff cut from local offices.

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In The Socialist 19 March 2005:

Blair's pensions climbdown