Pensions

Pay up for pensions - TUC march and rally

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London, Saturday 19 June
Assemble from 12 noon
Temple tube, Embankment
March 1pm
Rally 2pm Trafalgar Square


The TUC has called a national "Pay up for Pensions" demonstration in London on Saturday 19 June and it looks set to be well-attended. The demonstration is being supported by the National Pensioners' Convention.

The TUC demands are in line with most trade unions' policies, but the key task will be making our unions fight on those policies after 19 June. A big turnout on 19 June will put us in a better position to organise rank and file pressure.

Network Rail ballot: vote "yes"!

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By a an RMT member

The RMT has called a ballot for industrial action of its 7,000 members at Network Rail. These workers include signalling, maintenance and station staff. The ballot over the closure of the final salary pension scheme, pay, and travel facilities, will run from 27 April to 17 May. It raises the prospect of the first national rail stoppage in a decade.

National dispute over rail pay?

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By a RMT member

Talks have broken down between the railworkers' Rail, Maritime and Transport (RMT) union and employers Network Rail over pay, pensions and travel facilities.

The RMT executive will meet soon to discuss a national ballot of the union's 7,000 Network Rail members, who include signalling, maintenance and station staff.

RMT tells Network Rail: 'Hands off jobs and pensions!'

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Network Rail is waging a concerted attack on its workforce.

The Government expects our gratitude for getting Network Rail to end contracting-out and bring infrastructure maintenance in-house. Even some union leaders have repeated the spin that this is some form of renationalisation. But the truth is that it falls well short of a genuine return to public ownership, and in no sense means that Network Rail is a 'good employer'.

Draft trade-union motion on pensions

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The following text is being used for motions to union conference by AWL members in the PCS. It may prove useful in other unions too.



This Conference notes:

a) the attempt by the Government in some parts of the Public Sector to raised the pension retirement age from 60 to 65;

b) that the basic State Pension is losing real value and is projected to continue to do so for the coming years;

Privacy, poverty and putrefaction

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By Michaela Collins

Just before Xmas I passed a television camera crew going up my street. I felt a little frisson of interest and went on about my business. Next day I was a little more excited when the pictures aired on the lunchtime news and the camera lingered on my window. Well, Andy Warhol, it was only 15 seconds, whatever!

The news item was about an elderly couple who were found dead, one from hypothermia, after their gas had been cut off. I detail my reaction to the news because it highlights a certain ambivalence about privacy and publicity, and it is this ambivalence that is played on by policy-makers and private utilities.

Action needed on pensions!

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By John Moloney, PCS National Executive

The whole trade union movement agrees that there is a pension crisis. Whether with the state pension (too low), private sector pensions (final salary schemes closing down) or public sector (extending the pension retirement age to 65) across the whole of society pension rights are under attack. These attacks, if successful, will mean more pensioners living in greater poverty for longer.

Amicus ballot at Rolls Royce over pensions

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Balloting for industrial action has begun at Rolls-Royce over a pensions dispute. Workers are voting on whether to strike against plans to cut their pensions.

The firm says the cuts will total £80 million a year. Amicus said Rolls-Royce is proposing to slash £800 million from pensions, costing each worker up to £16,000 each.