Labour's views on public sector pay are a 'slap in the face'

UNISON condemns the Labour Party's suggestion that public service workers should accept more pay freezes and pay cuts as "a slap in the face".

Labour's misguided statement comes at a time when it is predicted that 700,000 jobs will be lost in the public sector by 2017, two thirds of whose workers are women.

"I've been a Labour party member for many years and this has come as a slap in the face" said Wendy Nichols, joint vice-chair of UNISON's Labour Link.

Ms Nichols, a Labour councillor in Selby and a member of the Labour party since 1984, added: "I remember canvassing for Labour at the age of nine with my parents. And this has really shocked me."

She was joined in her anger by Margaret Wilkinson, also joint vice-chair and a longtime member of the Labour Party, who commented: "Many hundreds of thousands of low-paid women working as carers, classroom assistants and in other local government jobs have already suffered two years of pay freeze - and none of us got the £250 that Osborne promised to help the lower paid.

"Now we have our own Labour leaders saying they would support even further pay freezes. Not only are UNISON members shocked by this, but so are Labour party members.

"The two Eds need to be out there arguing for fairness, not following in the tracks of the Tories. We will make sure the party leaders get the message loud and clear."

UNISON general secretary Dave Prentis said that in the past year, Labour has struggled to get its message across and show that there is an alternative to the coalition's savage cuts in public services.

"Our members need hope and a reason to vote Labour. These have been snatched away," he said.

"We were told by Ed Miliband to be patient, to prepare for the long haul, that their economic plans needed to be careful, cautious.

"We hoped that as the economy worsened, Labour's voice would get louder, more strident, more forceful, and that Ed Miliband would step up and speak out against the tearing apart of communities and families as they face insecurity and uncertainty.

"But at a time when our members needed him most, he panicked and ditched overnight a policy that challenged the coalition. Instead, he has decided to embrace a Tory pay policy that hits millions of public service workers, particularly low-paid women."

Accusing the Opposition leader of "breathtaking naivety", Mr Prentis added: "His comments will have unintended consequences. At a time when hard working families are struggling to make ends meet, the very party which they want to stand by them, has chosen instead to play cheap politics with their lives."

UNISON's relationship with Labour is governed by our democratically elected national affiliated political committee. They will meet to determine the best way to ensure that the Labour Party leadership properly reflects the views of UNISON members, the wider Labour Party membership and those who support Labour.

UNISON To Continue To Negotiate

UNISON activists have voted to give the union's negotiators the green light to continue discussions with government ministers on changes to public sector pensions.

More than 250 key elected national, regional, rank and file activists met at UNISON's headquarters on 10 January to discuss the details of the proposals for the local government and health pension schemes.

The decisions were taken by the six relevant service group executives made up of elected lay members.

They agreed to the frameworks negotiators have developed with government ministers since 30 November.

General secretary Dave Prentis said: "UNISON is a democratic union, and in today’s consultation, our elected activists from every service group in the local government pensions scheme endorsed the framework proposals we have negotiated, paving the way for more in depth talks.

"Our health members gave their support to talks on the NHS scheme entering a final phase, due to end in late January. When we have a final offer, we will take it back to members in a full ballot.

"Our action on 30 November got ministers back to the table, since then we have made some real progress. No contribution rises in local government until 2014 will be a real boost for many families that are hard hit by the pay freeze, and struggling to cope. The overwhelming majority of NHS scheme members won’t face contribution rate rises in 2012.

"We will continue to campaign to secure the best possible deal, which our members will then be consulted on. Should negotiations fail, our industrial action ballot, which remains live, gives us the option to take more strike action.”

Negotiations on the local government scheme are due to run until April 2012.

Until we have a firm offer, we need to keep up the pressure.

Oxford City Branch of UNISON will post there view after the next Branch committee

Local government pensions update (England and Wales)

A set of principles providing "a positive framework" for negotiations on the future of the local government pension scheme (LGPS) in England and Wales have now been given the green light by government.
The principles and timetable for detailed negotiations were jointly agreed between unions and the Local Government Association after lengthy talks and submitted to the government.

A letter issued by the Secretary of State, Eric Pickles, yesterday contained an unexpected reference to a cap on employers' funding of the scheme, which had not been discussed with unions and has not formed part of the negotiations. This has now been withdrawn and a new letter issued without this reference.

UNISON's service group executives will meet to discuss the proposals at a Pensions Summit on 10 January 2012.

The latest issue of LGPS Campaign News includes the full agreement reached with the Local Government Association (LGA) along with explanatory notes. The government accepted that the LGPS - as a funded scheme with a high proportion of low earners - was different to the other 'pay as you go' schemes and has therefore given the go-ahead for a longer period of negotiation over the short and long-term issues. The government has also agreed to suspend the formal consultation on short-term savings while negotiations take place from January 2012.

This agreement does not apply to the LGPS in Scotland, where there are no current moves to change the scheme. In Northern Ireland the NI Executive has indicated that it is intending to make the same changes as in England and Wales.

There are a number of very important principles for UNISON contained within the framework agreement. These include:

• Zero contribution increases for most members and no change in contributions, if required, until 2014

• Maintain the inherent and relative value of the pension to other public sector schemes

• Prevent opt-out from the scheme and encouraging new members

• Keep Admitted Body Status

• Ensure employers maintain the required contribution levels

• Establish new governance mechanisms at scheme and individual fund levels to ensure good governance and reduce central government intervention

• Negotiation - rather than imposition - of future changes post 2014 - if any are necessary Improve efficiency through a review of procurement, fund management and administration
  

Dave Prentis
UNISON general secretary

'Hope for the best but plan for the worst'

"We will hope for the best, but plan for the worst," UNISON's ruling NEC declared today as it assessed the effect of the 30 November pensions strike.

The day of action was "an absolutely fantastic day, the proudest day of my union life," general secretary Dave Prentis told the meeting in London.

And it had a clear effect: already serious negotiations have resumed and will continue into the new year, after ministers withdrew their deadline demanding agreement by the end of this year.

Talks started this week in the main pension schemes - NHS, local government, civil service and teachers' - and are continuing through December and into the new year, and the negotiators are co-ordinating among themselves, while more central negotiations take place with the Treasury and Cabinet Office.

The TUC public service unions will meet on 15 December to assess the day of action and look at the next steps.

But at the same time, the NEC agreed, UNISON needs to build on the momentum of 30 November, keep the union prepared for any further action if necessary, and keep members - especially those who joined in the run-up to the dispute - involved in the campaign.

All the relevant service group executives will meet in early January to be updated on negotiations and plan for any future industrial action.

The NEC called on regions to

• maintain high active profiles through December and January;
• call meetings of key activists in service groups to consult on possibilities for further action.

And it urged branches and activists to keep members informed and engaged in discussions to prepare for any offers that might come out of the renewed negotiations and prepared for further, stronger, action if necessary.

Recruitment in the weeks leading up to the strike hit record levels, the NEC heard, with the union recording the highest November recruitment figures in its history.

The meeting also heard a warning of a "major explosions about pay" following Chancellor George Osborne's autumn statement, which included limiting pay increases to 1% following the current pay freeze.

Mr Prentis warned that this would see members' net pay reduced by 20% in real terms from two years ago.

"We've got to gear up this union to deal with pay as we geared up to deal with pensions."

The NEC also:

• agreed to send a message of support to Unilever workers who have voted for strike action over attacks on their final salary pension scheme;
• received an update on the campaign to defend the NHS, focussing on the continuing campaign against the government's Health and Social Care Bill, currently going through the House of Lords and urged support for the Big NHS Weekend activity;
• agreed the union's objectives and priorities for 2012;
• agreed financial planning and budgets for the year ahead, including a continued fighting fund, and received the union's accounts for the nine months to September;
• started planning for the 2012 national delegate conference.

The Great Pension Robbery Explained. Part 1: RPI to CPI

In the June 2010 Budget the Chancellor announced without consultation that the Government will “switch to a system where we up-rate public service pensions in line with consumer prices rather than retail prices”. That is a switch from the Retail Price Index to the Consumer Price Index.CPI and RPI are calculated from the same underlying price data but there are significant differences, notably the following:

1. Various housing elements included in RPI are excluded from CPI including mortgage interest payments and council tax.


2. CPI is generally calculated using a geometric mean whereas RPI in contrast is calculated using an arithmetic mean.


3. In classifying goods and services, CPI follows an international classification system whereas RPI follows its own system.

As a result of these differences, since 1997 (when the 12 month rate of change for CPI was first available), RPI has been on average 0.8% a year higher than CPI. The repercussions for pension scheme members are therefore somewhat obvious, thousands cut from the value of individual public sector pensions at a stroke, without consultation or negotiation.

How much worse off will you be under the pension proposals?

Pay more, work longer, get less.
Many public service workers are being asked to pay more in pension contributions by an average of over 50%.

You're being asked to work longer, as the retirement age for public service workers is set to increase.

And you'll get less. By using the Consumer Price Index (CPI) instead of the Retail Price Index (RPI) anyone getting their pension could be 8.5% worse off by 2017.

And the extra money isn't being used to improve pension schemes for the future, it's going straight to the Treasury to pay for the bankers' crisis.

Find out how you will be affected.

Pensions calculator

Local Government Pension Scheme (LGPS) England & Wales

• > How much more will you pay?

• > How much longer will you work, and how much pension will you lose?

Laughing all the way to the bank...

Public service workers are being asked to pay for the bankers' crisis, by an average increase in their pension contributions of more than 50% if they earn above £15,000 full time. This extra money isn't being used to improve the pension schemes for the future – it's going straight to the Treasury to pay for the bankers' crisis.

But why can't the bankers' pay for the crisis out of their own pockets? Is it because their own pensions aren't big enough? InFocus uncovered the facts about some of the pension pots that bankers have to struggle by on during their retirement and compares them to the 'gold-plated' pensions of some of our public service workers.

After all: 'We're all in this together' – right?

Eric Daniels: aged 59
Group chief executive of Lloyds Banking Group.
Worked there from June 2003, retired 28 February 2011.
Pension pot: valued at £5.03 million last December.
Annual pension: £210,000 a year.

Gill Malik: aged 59
Housekeeper in West Suffolk Hospital.
Worked there for 20 years (contracted out for seven years).
Pension if she retires at 60: £1,782 a year.
Pension if she retires at 65: £2,764 a year.

Fred Goodwin: aged 50 at retirement
Chief executive of the Royal Bank of Scotland.
Worked there from 2001 to 2009.
Annual pension: £342,500.
Poor Mr Goodwin had to reduce his pension following public outcry and negotiations with RBS. However, he was entitled to keep an estimated £2.7m tax-free lump sum as well, which would have helped to soften the blow.

Carole Maleham: aged 59
Driver for museums and arts for Rotherham borough council.Employed by council for 26 years (unable to join the pension scheme for many years as she was a part-time worker).
Expected pension: £3,000 a year.

John Varley: aged 54 at retirement
Chief executive of Barclays PLC until 31 Dec 2010.
Worked at Barclays for 28 years.
Pension pot: £18.256 million.
Annual pension: £619,000 a year.