Unions threaten industrial action over retirement proposals |
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Thu, 15 Sep 2005 08:05
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BRIGHTON - The annual Trades Union Congress here has turned out to be spicier than expected by the government with the unions threatening strike action if their demands are not met. The main issue is the proposal to increase the retirement age of civil servants to 65. The unions are clearly not very impressed with this proposal.
The Brighton conference got underway with a loud protest by Gate Gourmet workers, who struck work last month affecting over 700 flights from Heathrow airport. Chancellor Gordon Brown tried to get the members to look at his best side, but his keynote address must have sounded unconvincing even to himself. The government’s pension policy has also come under fire from the unions, which say that this issue had served to bond them together like never before.
Unison general secretary Dave Prentis put things in perspective when he said that the new policy represented "chaos." He added that 13 different unions, which collectively represent more than three million public sector workers, were ready to take industrial action on the retirement age issue. "Public servants have a right to expect proposals to change their pensions arrangements to be discussed and negotiated with their trade unions," Mr. Prentis said. Trade Secretary Alan Johnson had earlier apologized to workers that the government had not taken them into confidence before announcing this plan. However, his statement did not appear to curry any favor with the unions.
Mark Serwotka, the leader of the public and commercial services union said that the retirement issue could be solved by giving choices in retirement dates, "If the government imposes an increase in the pension age my view is that industrial action is absolutely inevitable," he said. Asked if Tony Blair had delivered a tough message at a TUC dinner on Tuesday, he said, "He's got a cheek. For the prime minister to come and lecture me about modernizing the trade union movement when he's seen 200,000 members leave his own party is a bit cheeky."
Adair Turner, chairman of a pensions commission, which is due to submit a report by the end of this year, said that there were no easy solutions since people were living longer and consequently required more money to take care of themselves in their old age, "Indeed, in the major developed country which has introduced compulsory pension savings in the last two decades - Australia - that trade-off, pension contributions instead of cash wage increases was a deliberate aim of the policy recognized by government, employers and unions alike," he told the delegates.
NUT, AUT, Prospect, NATFHE, GMB, FBU, ATL, FDA, Amicus, Unison, NASUWT, POA and the T&G are the 13 unions that have agreed to come under a single umbrella and take action if the government decides to implement retirement proposals.
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