Using the UNISON online pensions calculators in Havering

UNISON has now published Local Government pensions calculators on the national union website. There are two calculators, one which shows how much more we will be asked to pay up front if the Government get there way – and another which shows how much our pension will be reduced by and how we will have to work longer to get that pension.

 

Right now there are two different options proposed by the Government, and two options put forward by the Local Government Employers.

There are also further changes planned for the future of the scheme and there are a range of proposed "accrual rates"

The calculators offer you choices about these things so that you can see the full range of possible changes to your pension contributions and your pensions.

It is well worth spending 5 minutes clicking through to work out how much you'll lose - once you have done this please also encourage workmates to do it, or perhaps a group of you could do it together in your lunch hour.
 
Nationally in local governement people work a 37 hour week but in Havering (and most of London) the hours are 36.

This does not matter if your full time just leave the calculator on its default setting of 37 hours.

 

If you work part time – instead of entering the number of hours you actually work each week you need to divide that figure by 35 and then multiply it by 36 (or, which is easier, multiply by 1.029).

So if you work 18 hours then enter 18 x 1.029 = 18.5, or if you work 25 hours then enter 25 x 1.029 = 25.7. If you work 28.8 hours/ 4 days (like me) enter 28.8 x 1.029 = 29.6.

For schools or If you work term time only then you need to calculate your hours over a whole year to work out what proportion of a year of pensionable service you earn for each of your working years - myself and Dave Thomas will work some examples out for schools for when we start our tour of Havering Schools next week.

Here are the links to the national calculators again;

How much more you will pay

How much less you will get

Online Pension Calculator - more reasons to vote "YES"

The TUC's Pension Justice website now hosts a basic pension calculator to show members of the big public sector pension schemes just how much we stand to lose if the Government get away with their attack on our pensions. It is online at http://pensionsjustice.org.uk/pensions-changes-calculator/

UNISON will shortly publish a detailed calculator reflecting the detail of the two different Government options - and the separate proposals from the Local Government Employers. In the mean time we can use the Pensions Justice Calculator to persuade any waverers to vote "YES"!
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Health workers organising for strike action on N30

The website of UNISON's East London Mental Health branch (http://www.eastlondonmentalhealth.com/) is a showcase for an organising approach to mobilising for a "YES" vote for strike action in the dispute over pensions.

It sets out clearly the impact on members of the Government's cash grab from the NHS Pension Scheme and makes a clear cut call for action.

Similarly, the London Ambulance Service branch website (http://www.lasunison.com/) sends an unequivocal message with Branch Secretary (and NEC member) Eric Roberts offering a pensions history lesson which goes back further than anything I've read (http://ericsblog.lasunison.eu/?p=828).

The Haringey Health branch meanwhile provide excellent links to the pensions campaign information on the national website (http://www.unisonharingeyhealth.co.uk/).

Our members in health haven't seen a national dispute on this scale in a generation - but then the living standards of health service workers haven't faced such an assault for even longer.

The pensions dispute hits UNISON members in all our service groups and is an opportunity for us all to help and support each other as we work together to support our Union as it prepares for our biggest strike and greatest challenge. My branch has offered help to the local health branch and I hope everyone else is doing the same.
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Barnet Strikes Back!

Good luck to members of Barnet UNISON taking strike action today in their continuing dispute about the identity of their employer (http://www.barnetunison.me.uk/?q=node/704).

With characteristic imagination, Barnet branch members are putting an additional demand on the Council in connection with today's strike. At 10.30 am a number of strikers will be taking a coach trip across the borough in order to provide help and assistance to a local charity which is in desperate need of help. The strikers will spend the rest of the day carrying a number of tasks for the charity.

UNISON members are calling on the Leader of Barnet Council not to pocket the money he has saved from the strikers and instead donate that money to the Mayor's Charity. Let's see how Barnet's Tory privatisers respond to that!
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I've voted yes - have you?

I have now voted yes in the unison ballot on Pensions - I hope you do as well!

The proposed changes are unfair and unnecessary and we need a big turnout and a big yes vote.

As our UNISON General Secretary said in the letter that accompanied the ballot form "Only industrial action will send a clear and united message to ministers that "enough is enough""

Vote now!
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Unison nec election

Slightly poor timing at start of ballot period, but hey we didn't choose timetable!

Local Goverment branches please ask your branch committee to nominate Phoebe Watkins for the Female LG NEC vacancy.

Ta
Mj

From: Phoebe Watkins <phoebe.watkins@btopenworld.com>
To: Undisclosed-Recipient: ;@smtp815.mail.ukl.yahoo.com <Undisclosed-Recipient: ;@smtp815.mail.ukl.yahoo.com>
Sent: Sun Oct 09 23:19:55 2011
Subject: Request for nominations for Female Local Government NEC seat

Dear Branch Secretary,
 
Attached, please find a letter requesting your Branch considers nominating me for the forthcoming NEC elections. 
 
I would be most grateful if you would consider discussing my statement, and whether your branch would be willing to nominate me?
 
My letter details why I am standing, and if you do require me to speak at your branch, I am more than happy to try to attend.  Election rules state that if any candidate is invited, then all declared candidates also have to be invited.
 
If you require any further details, please do email me back at this address.
 
Phoebe Watkins
**************************************************************

Letter

9th October 2011

Dear Branch Secretary,

Request for nomination for the Female Local Government NEC Seat

I am writing to ask you to put this request for nomination to the vacant Local Government Female NEC seat to your branch.

This by-election comes at a vital time for UNISON and the wider Trade Union movement.

The Con Dem Government have already slashed jobs and services and frozen our pay causing untold desperation. Now they are after our pensions.

The possibility of over 3 million public sector workers striking together holds out the possibility not just of protecting our pensions but of turning back the Con Dem's Austerity programme based on making ordinary people pay for a crisis created by the bankers greed.

To do that we need strong and determined leadership willing to organize the extended coordinated industrial action and to build on the strong alliances we are developing across the Trade Union movement and within our communities.

I have a record of building that kind of movement at a local level.

I am a longstanding union member - having worked in Housing for over 30 years - and am currently Convenor of Adult Social Care and the joint Branch Chair for Camden local government branch. I have been involved in local services in different capacities - as a Governor of the Nursery school my children attended in the past, and now as a Trustee of our local community centre. We successfully fought off proposals to completely end our funding last year and proudly, we still offer services to the local community across the generations from infancy to old age.

Locally in Camden, we have built a coalition across unions, parties, and local community organisations (such as tenants' associations) to fight the cuts. We are therefore well placed to build on the positive cross union organization we already have, and is now in a good position to be building the biggest strike across all unions on November 30th.

I am not in the Labour Party, but I believe that we should work with all politicians who stand for and promote the policies of this union. That will include many Labour Councillors, MPs and constituent party members. However, I believe we should also be able to criticise and oppose them, not least through taking action, where we are being attacked and bearing the brunt of the cuts implemented by Labour councils.

Lastly I believe that in order to deal with the attacks we face it is essential to encourage the full involvement of all activists and members and to end attacks on union activists.

Please consider nominating me to stand for the Local Government Female NEC. I am more than happy to come along to speak in your branch if invited, and answer any questions you may have for me.

Yours in solidarity,

Phoebe Watkins
Membership No: 1140421
Phoebe.Watkins@btopenworld.com
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Unison taking legal steps to protect nurses right to strike.

Unison respond strongly and promptly to the NMC's outrageous statement.

From http://www.unison.org.uk/asppresspack/pressrelease_view.asp?id=2474


UNISON to issue legal challenge to Nursing and Midwifery Council
UNISON, the UK's largest union, is set to issue legal proceedings on Monday, challenging the Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC) over its statement that said nurses and midwives could be in breach of the NMC Code of Conduct if they take part in lawful industrial action on 30th November 2011.

The union has asked for a retraction from the NMC, but this has been ignored.

Dave Prentis, UNISON General Secretary, said,

"We have taken legal advice, and in our view, the NMC's threatening statement was wrong. If members choose to take lawful industrial action they will not be in breach of the Code of Conduct.

"We know nurses, midwives and health workers would not do anything to harm their patients, or to breach their Code of Conduct. And as a responsible union, it is not something we would ever consider asking our members to do.

"We will not allow our members to be threatened or intimidated, and we are taking legal steps to challenge the NMC.

ENDS
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Islington Council supports “Local Government workers defending their pension scheme”

Well done to Islington Labour Councillors for moving and supporting the following motion, which has just now been passed by a full council meeting.


I hope other Councils will follow suit. I also look forward to seeing other UNISON branches along regional and national Labour Link committees using this as a model motion to ask other Local Councils and Labour Groups to pass.

Support for the Local Government Pension Scheme


Council notes that the LGPS is a sustainable, good quality pension scheme that benefits from being funded and locally managed. It is valuable to employers and employees alike.


Council is concerned by proposals announced by the Chancellor in the last CSR to impose an extra 3.2% contribution tax on scheme members, increasing scheme average member contributions from 6.6% to 9.8% and notes that none of the additional revenue will go towards improving the financial security of the scheme and that in addition, research indicates that 40-50 per cent of affected members may opt out of the scheme as a result of this policy, thereby undermining the viability of the largest pension scheme in the UK. Current Government proposals are not a genuine attempt to make the schemes more sustainable, they are a cash grab by the Treasury, imposing an additional tax on workers.


Council notes that public service workers have suffered an ongoing pay freeze, widespread redundancies and cuts and closures of many vital services on which our communities rely.


Council further notes that the LGA wrote to the Chancellor on 16 February 2011 to express concerns that mass opt-outs would be both undesirable and damaging to the scheme – Council shares these concerns.


Council is disappointed that the Government has failed to negotiate fully and openly with the Trade Unions and regrets that the Government’s intransigence has increased the possibility of industrial action. Council notes that the trade unions and community groups have agreed to organise local and national protests in support of public services, jobs and pensions. Council agrees to support the work of the Trade Unions in raising awareness of this issue and local government employees in defending their pension scheme.


Council resolves to ask the Leader to write to the Chief Secretary to the Treasury within the next month to express Council’s concerns and urge the Government to rethink their proposals.