Pay More – Work Longer – Get Less.

I am writing this blog from the Unison National Delegate Conference in Manchester. Our Branch Delegation and myself  (as a National Executive Council member) have faced three days of major debates and decisions concerning the destructive cuts agenda of the Coalition Government. It is no surprise that Pensions, and our position regarding industrial action, have taken centre stage.

The conference is being held in a building called Manchester Central. This used to be the third mainline railway station serving Manchester. It was first built in 1875.

It was closed in 1969 due to the recommendations contained in The Beeching Report which also put paid to thousands of miles of railway lines within the UK. Cuts then – cuts now! Nothing changes under the Tories.

It was left empty for a while and then turned into a car-park of all things, until Manchester City Council saw sense and did the right thing.

This Grade 2 Listed building was brought back to life and is now a major conference centre.

Spending four days inside a railway shed though, may not appeal to many people!

Speeches in defence of Public Sector Pensions echoed around the huge Victorian arched roof inside the centre:from Dave Prentis, our General Secretary , delegates from Health, Local Government and Utility Branches and, of course, members of the National Executive Council (NEC).

Make no mistake about it: if nothing changes in the planned attack on our pensions (50% increase in subscriptions, changes to the retirement age, a decrease in the amount of pension received: Pay more – work longer – get less) we will ballot for industrial action.

LAS UNISON is already making preparations and putting plans in place so that we are ready to have a successful ballot when called for. This issue affects all of us: young, old,  men, women, new staff, long serving staff.

Negotiations between the TUC and the Government are due to finish at the end of this month (June). The outcome of those talks will be known very soon after. Our position regarding the success or failure of those negotiations will then be announced as well as the strategy for any industrial action if needed.

We are entering a serious and difficult time, but we cannot stand by and watch our Pension rights being destroyed to feed a deficit that not one health worker; not one ambulance worker; not one public sector worker; had a hand in causing. We are being used as scapegoats to cover up the greed of the City as well as a crisis within global capitalism.

There are some in the union who call for strikes and industrial action all the time, every time, on every issue. This is different. This call to arms drowns out those monotonous pedlars of rhetoric.

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If you come across a pensioner laying in the road, don’t worry, they may not be a casualty. Pensioner groups announced at the conference that they are going to enter into a wholly new and novel way of protest.

To campaign against the attack on pensions they are planning to lay down in the roads, at strategic places, stopping traffic and thereby highlighting their solidarity with public sector workers and the services they provide, and also show their anger at the way they themselves are being treated by this Government.

What a great idea, although it is accepted that it may cause some confusion and anxiety, particularly for ambulance crews who, I am absolutely sure, will be called out by worried members of the public at the sight of a number of pensioners stretched out in the middle of busy junctions! Lay down for your rights! Excellent.

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 Information of all issues can be found elsewhere on our website.

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Eric Roberts

Branch Secretary