Union leaders are meeting with Deputy Prime Minister John Prescott to talk about union members' refusal to accept government plans to downgrade public sector pensions schemes. The government is under huge pressure from union members to abandon proposals to cut the pensions schemes.
After a nationwide 82% Yes vote for strike action to save pensions in January's informal pensions consultation, UNISON is due to start formally balloting members on strike action next week.
On April 1 2005, the government plans to raise the retirement age from 60 to 65 and the early retirement age from 50 to 55. Union members are furious about this and have turned out in their thousands to respond to informal ballots on strike action. More than a million public-sector workers could take strike action in March to protest against those changes.
Still, news reports indicate that John Prescott's office believes that changing the local government pensions scheme is still an option, and maybe the better one in the longer term.
This is not good enough, and Mr Prescott needs to know it. Union members want the proposed changes to their pensions scheme dropped - not merely watered down or postponed until after the election!
The pressure on government has come about because so many union members have responded so angrily to the government's proposals for pensions schemes. We're seeing the effectiveness of a collective response here.
On April 1 2005, the government plans to raise the retirement age from 60 to 65 and the early retirement age from 50 to 55. Union members are furious about this and have turned out in their thousands to respond to informal ballots on strike action. More than a million public-sector workers could take strike action in March to protest against those changes.
Still, news reports indicate that John Prescott's office believes that changing the local government pensions scheme is still an option, and maybe the better one in the longer term.
This is not good enough, and Mr Prescott needs to know it. Union members want the proposed changes to their pensions scheme dropped - not merely watered down or postponed until after the election!
The pressure on government has come about because so many union members have responded so angrily to the government's proposals for pensions schemes. We're seeing the effectiveness of a collective response here.
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