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UNISON agrees to further negotiations on pensions read here

Why we say ‘no deal’ on pensions

UNISON nationally has agreed terms with the Government for further negotiations on pensions.

Branches have been asked for their views on these 'proposals' 

However because of the timescales we have not been able to consult as widely as we would wish , but below we print the view of Branch officers which will be forwarded to the regional office

 Why we say ‘no deal’ on pensions

“These agreements deliver the government’s key objectives in full, and do so with no new money since our November offer. These reforms will save the taxpayer tens of billions of pounds over the next few decades and significantly improve the long-term fiscal sustainability of this country.” Danny Alexander

As UNISON representatives and ordinary members we do not believe that the “Heads Of Agreement” on public sector pensions form the basis for settling our dispute with the government over our future pensions.

We are it must be said very unhappy , that UNISON appears to be now suggesting , that our actions “were always a damage limitation exercise”

this was not our view (or we believe the view of our members who took action) , but we did recognise , that  defeat the proposals would require more than one days action (a view shared by our General Secretary).

It has been suggested (by some in the National leadership) that ‘the key grievance of increased contributions has been warded off’ by the agreement.

We believe that the issue of increased contributions , was one of several grievances and that under these ‘proposals’ we would still be working longer and getting less, and even then the issue of increased contributions has only , we understand been deferred for two years.

The agreements we believe will ultimately deliver the government’s agenda of making public sector workers work longer, pay more and get less in our pensions.

The agreement is based on the Treasury’s “final offer” issued on 2 November, which allows for negotiation on elements in each pension scheme but within a fixed “cost ceiling”. As Francis Maude has made clear “The cost ceiling has not changed. We have not put an extra penny on the table”.

On 30 November we took part in the largest strike action in at least a generation, in an unprecedented display of unity across public sector unions. Dave Prentis rightly proclaimed it “an incredible success and one of the proudest moments of my career”.

We believe it is a fundamental mistake only a few weeks later to allow the government to now play divide and rule. This can only make it easier for them to push through the cuts in our pensions as part of their wider austerity programme of real pay cuts and massive job losses, making working people pay the price for a crisis created by bankers’ greed.  There is too much at stake to allow the Con Dems to pick off unions one at a time or to seek to isolate others as they are clearly attempting to do with the PCS.