Council pay cuts are a false economy

In a Guardian article to mark this week’s Local Government Association (LGA) conference, Heather Wakefield highlights how much local government workers, their families and their local communities are suffering as a result of the unfair decision to freeze local government pay. Local government workers have suffered a 15% pay cut in the past three years and now earn 10% less in real terms than they did in 1996:http://www.guardian.co.uk/local-government-network/2012/jun/27/low-pay-local-government-unison

UNISON PENSIONS CONSULTATION

FOLLOWING NEGOTIATIONS THE EMPLOYER HAVE MADE AN OFFER ON A REVISED PENSIONS SCHEME
details can be found here

a ballot of all members will be held on 31 july to 24th august
before that in order to determine whether UNISON will be making any recommendation with the ballot, we would like to know what you think.
is the offer a good one?
if not would you be preapred to take further industrial action?
let us know by july 12th at
unionoffice@wolverhamptonunison.org.uk
or call 554096

New local government pensions proposals released

The Local Government Association (LGA) and trade unions have today announced the outcome of their negotiations on new LGPS proposals (for England and Wales) to take effect from 1st April 2014.

These proposals will now be communicated to scheme members, employers, funds and other scheme interests. Unions will consult their members over these proposals and the LGA will consult employers. The government has confirmed that a favourable outcome of our consultations will enable them to move directly to a statutory consultation later in the Autumn to implement these proposals.
Full details can be found here.

Heather Wakefield, UNISON National Secretary Local Government, Police and Justice Section said:

“The negotiations over LGPS 2014 have been long and tough and have taken place in a demanding political and economic climate. The process has shown that UNISON, the LGA and the other local government unions can work productively together in the best interests of LGPS members and potential members.

LGPS 2014 is a sustainable, defined benefit scheme, which is designed to protect existing members and be affordable for the low paid and part-time workers who are its majority. Under exacting circumstances, we have achieved the best possible outcome.”

The union leadership are boasting that the deal means no increase in contribution rates for most members (those earning under £43k) and has won an accrual rate that makes a career average scheme work. As such they are claiming our negotiators have won a good deal to put to our members in a ballot bringing the end to the pension dispute.

That the details of the negotiations have remained secret even from branch activists until the above press release has been of concern to many branches (including ours)

Similarly this branch is concerned that the 'deal' does not appear to address the reasons we went on strike 

specifically work longer, pay more get less!

below we print an initial criticism of the deal ;

 The union leadership are boasting that the deal means no increase in contribution rates for most members (those earning under £43k) and has won an accrual rate that makes a career average scheme work. As such they are claiming our negotiators have won a good deal to put to our members in a ballot bringing the end to the pension dispute.

The reality is what they are hoping to sell is the idea that “given that the government were coming to cut off both your arms and legs isn’t good that they now only want to cut your arm off”.

What the union fails to point out it that it was just four years ago that they sold us a deal they said would last a generation.  Then we lost £1billion off our pensions, were forced to pay more and for most of us to get less.

Just four years on and the employers are coming back for more. Under this deal we will have to work to 68 or even longer to get our pension or face losing 5% of it for every year we go earlier. 

Under this deal when workers retire they will now get less than before as their pension will only be up rated in Line with the lower CPI inflation rate rather than the R.P.I.

In addition we will have also lost our final salary scheme, which we fought to defend in 2006, which many members will be rightly suspicious of giving up.

The union are now claiming the Career average scheme is better, because it has a better Accrual rate and will be up rated by the inflation rate.  In order to judge these claims members need to see all the facts. The examples the union gives show we would be no worse off and in some case better off with a 1/49th and CPI up rating.

The only problem with this is that some months ago the union said we would need to be get an up rating level of not just the inflation rate but plus 2.5%, to make a career average a better scheme (The reason being history has shown over the long run pay rises are generally 2.5% higher than the inflation rate). Despite this we are now being sold an up rating level of Just the CPI inflation rate (3% at the moment).

This can mean only two things; Firstly if we were given examples of CPI plus 2.5% it would expose the career average scheme leaving many members worse off. (Coincidently the examples given on the union website have mysteriously disappeared).

Secondly it exposes the pessimism of our union leaders, they clearly don’t believe that we will be able to secure anything other than pay rises at or below inflation rate for the next 20 years or so and they have abandoned a generation of council workers to remaining in low paid jobs with no prospects of promotion or career development and a such in no need of a final salary scheme.

The other problem with the proposals is that it has left unresolved the question of who pays if the costs of the scheme increase until after the ballot.  In the health service they ended up with a deal where the employers were protected from increases and all the increased costs now fall on the shoulders of the members. 

We should make our poison clear not a penny more off our pensions and not a day longer to be worked.

If the union leaders think this is what a good deal can be achieved through negotiation, imagine what could be won if we fight alongside all the unions.