UNISON Scotland WILL Strike over Pensions!
It's good to see Friday's announcement of a dispute over the Scottish Local Government Pension Scheme on the UNISON Scotland website (http://www.unison-scotland.org.uk/pensions/).
This shows us (thank f!) that UNISON Scotland Local Government are firmly back on board with the rest of the movement in defence of pensions after what appeared to be a slight wobble.
Our Scottish Regional Secretary was quoted in the media, on Thursday, as lifting the threat of industrial action in Scottish local government (http://www.heraldscotland.com/mobile/news/politics/swinney-counts-cost-as-budget-backlash-begins-1.1125169) following the announcement by the Scottish Finance Minister on Wednesday that the Scottish Government will leave decisions on contributions to the Local Government Pension Schemes to those schemes (http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Publications/2011/09/22135416/7).
This was apparently based on a blog post that he wrote that has now been removed.
If we were only in dispute about the issue of increased pension contributions (which are really a pensions tax) - you perhaps could understand why the possibility that Scottish local authorities might agree to no increase would justify such an announcement - but it isn't just a contribution increase, there's the retirement age, the rpi/cpi change making our pensions worth 15% less and of course the longer term negotiations on pensions that haven't even started yet!
Wednesday's announcement from the Scottish Finance Minister had nothing to say about the proposed increase in retirement age, nor the switch to CPI for uprating.
Whoever said that the threat of industrial action in Scottish local government should be lifted made a very serious mistake indeed - and I am extremely glad that this was pointed out to them by our national union.
In a letter that went out on Friday
UNISON notified the Scottish local government employers that we are indeed in dispute, so hopefully any damage from this brief and foolish error can now be repaired.
Comrades on the Scottish Local Government Committee need to ensure, at their meeting on Tuesday, that they continue to stand alongside other Scottish public servants, as well as their local Government colleagues in England, Wales and Northern Ireland.
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1 comments:
Scotland brief attempt to go it alone might have had more to do with a lack confidence in the national union, as they may fear the union will settle for a worse offer the can archive by themselves. If this is the case, the answer is not going it alone but a transplant and democratic lay membership control over the dispute with clear agreed demands. UNISON Scotland should support that approach instead by also supporting the calls for special service group conferences
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