Member News
The unions have queried the Government's new plan for public sector pensions. The Public Service Pensions Bill was given its first formal reading in the Commons today. It implements changes including linking the age of retirement for public sector workere to the state retirement age, increased contributions in some sectors and changing the basis of defined benefit schemes from final salary to career average earnings. Unite, the country's largest union, claimed the proposals are being Wsteamrollered through by the coalition, eager to make teachers and nurses pay for the financial chaos caused by the City elite". Unite's assistant general secretary Gail Cartmail said: "Ministers have turned unfairness and not listening to the reasoned arguments of the public sector unions into an art form. "We will be urging the Labour Party and those Liberal Democrats unhappy with the coalition's direction of travel to put up a strong fight as the bill goes through its parliamentary stages. "Ministers have dressed up their statements to give the impression that their plans for public sector pensions have been universally agreed by the respective workforces. This is simply not true." Ms Cartmail said Unite will continue to campaign against this legislation. "It will mean public sector workers paying more, working longer up to the age of 68, and receiving less when they eventually retire," she said. Danny Alexander, Chief Secretary to the Treasury, said the changes will save £65bn over the next 50 years. "It will cut the cost to taxpayers by nearly half, while ensuring that public sector workers, rightly, continue to receive pensions amongst the very best available," he said. "This is a good deal for taxpayers and a good deal for public service workers." GMB, whose members are public services workers, questioned how the Government intends to ensure 25 years of stability so it might be helpful or it might reopen old wounds. Brian Strutton, GMB National Secretary for Public Services, said: "The Bill might be helpful or it might reopen old wounds. "Firstly, although there are bound to be savings from the new schemes they will not be of the order quoted by (Chief Secretary) Danny Alexander - in fact we won't know the level of savings until the initial valuations are done in 2013 or 2014. The OBR numbers quoted are from the negotiations earlier this year, they are not the total costs. "Secondly, government promised that the new pension schemes were guaranteed for 25 years and we'll be looking closely at the Bill to see exactly how this commitment is going to be delivered. This was a very important part of the negotiations. "Finally, in the earlier negotiations it was clear that Treasury failed to grasp the funded nature of the Local Government Pension Scheme (LGPS) and their proposals had to be renegotiated separately. The Bill will need to deal with the future costs of the LGPS very carefully if the £150bn worth of funds are not to be put at risk."