Work Longer! Pay More! Get Less!

It was perhaps naive to expect anything less but Minister for Local Government Phil Woolas has shown contempt for Local Government workers and given us a clear view of just exactly what we can expect on Pensions in the New Year.

The circular which sets out the Government's proposals for a new look LG. pension scheme has now been published and, surprisingly it was dated 23 November 2006, just 24 hours after the lobby of Parliament organised by the unions (see picture.)

So at the very time that union negotiators were expressing their view that we may be moving toward a negotiated settlement and while New Labour MP,s were being lobbied by Unison members (and expressing sympathy!), it is clear that this document had already been prepared and was sat on Woolas' desk!

This is a wholesale dismissal of Local government workers and their Unions. At the Yorkshire and Humberside Regional Council last week, delegates expressed their anger at the Governments proposals, with many of those most loyal to the Government feeling most betrayed.

So what exactly are the proposals?

• No extension to protection for the 85 Year Rule beyond 2016.
• Changes to Employee Contributions (5.5% on the first £12,000 of earnings, 7.5% on the rest.) This will be reported as a reduction in contributions for the lowest paid workers but many former manual workers currently pay at a protected rate of 5%.
• A severely detrimental Ill-Health Retirement Scheme which will not only make it much more difficult to get your Pension on health grounds but will also mean that you may lose any entitlement you do have and be forced back into work on review.
• Provisions which will allow the LG. Employers to reduce the amount they pay into your pension.
• An increase in the minimum retirement age!

This is, as every Local Government Pension Scheme member recognises, a massive assault on our members terms and conditions and poses a grave threat to their future incomes and wellbeing in retirement. It is worth stating again that the average LG pension is only £3800 and this for many, predominantly low-paid workers, only after long years of dedicated service and hard work.

The Unions must fight to oppose these changes and must start the campaign for industrial action immediately. It is only because of the determination of Unison and other trade union members that we saw on March 28th, that some minor concessions have been achieved over previous, even more vicious proposals.

Kirklees Branch has been instrumental in leading the campaign for a Special Delegate Conference early in the New Year, a campaign supported by 92 Unison branches (including Doncaster) representing over 300,000 members. This conference is vital and will ensure that it is the members of Unison who will make the decisions on industrial action and the best way to defend our pensions rather than a small group of negotiators.

Unison leader Dave Prentis has said that if the Government does not negotiate a settlement, it will pay the price at the May elections. Whilst this will undoubtedly be true we must not leave it simply to the isolation of the ballot box for our members to express their anger. We must act now to ensure that the campaign for industrial action is won. You, our members, must be involved in setting the direction for this dispute, in campaigning to win the defense of a pension scheme that will offer some measure of security in retirement and in seeing off the "work till you drop," proposals of this Government.

Watch this space brothers and sisters!