Now -read the book!

Here is a link to my memoirs which, if you are a glutton for punishment, you can purchase online at https://www.kobo.com/gb/en/ebook/an-obscure-footnote-in-trade-union-history.
Men fight and lose the battle, and the thing that they fought for comes about in spite of their defeat, and when it comes turns out not to be what they meant, and other men have to fight for what they meant under another name. (William Morris - A Dream of John Ball)

Wednesday, July 04, 2007

LGPS - yes or no?

UNISON is urging members to vote “yes” to approve the new look Local Government Pension Scheme. This recommendation comes from the Service Group Liaison Committee. This is what the Local Government Conference thinks of that Committee.

“We believe that coordination of action in relation to the LGPS across Service Groups and between different trade unions has recently been inadequate. In particular, we express our lack of confidence in the Service Group Liaison Committee as presently constituted as an effective forum to coordinate the defence of the interests of our members.”

I shall vote “no” because I don’t think we have achieved the objectives we set for ourselves when we took strike action last March. As Dave Prentis put it;

“Members of every other public-sector pension scheme have had their pension contract honoured - why should local government workers be treated any differently? Teachers' contracts honoured but not teaching assistants; police but not police staff; civil servants but not dustmen; and social workers that work in hospitals but not those social workers who work for councils.”

I expect that members will accept the recommendation of the Service Group Liaison Committee by a large majority, but branches must be free to make their own recommendations to members. I have heard it suggested that we may not do so, but know of no basis in Rule for such a daft exercise in control freakery…

4 comments:

PennyPound said...

The reference to the service group liaison committee is a red herring.
The Local Government Executive is supporting acceptance along with the lay leadership of all other UNISON bargaining groups.

Jon Rogers said...

I don't know about a red herring but there was certainly something fishy about the governance of the dispute...

We could have done a lot better - and it is irritating (to put it gently) to see so much effort put into dressing a compromise up as a victory.

Dan (danjstone@hotmail.com) said...

I found your blog by accident. I am so angry at the way this whole thing has been handled by UNISON.
Have e-mailed them and got no response. Its a stitch up benefiting those lucky enough to be 50 or over by next year only.


I'm 41. My contribution goes up to 6.7%. I would have satisified 'rule of 85' at age 53! If I retire at 60 under the new scheme I will lose 24% of my accrued benefits!

Please explain why I should vote Yes?

Anonymous said...

What happened to the part-time issue? I work 24 hours a week yet my percentage contribution is based on my equivalent full-time earnings, so I will be paying much more for a worse pension.

The deal is discriminatory as women are more likely than men to work part-time.

For this and a host of other reasons this deal is a sell-out.

I am proud to say that I voted NO.

Cameron
UNISON member
Sandwell