Restoring pension link 'long overdue'

Published in the Morning Star

(Tuesday 19 April 2005)

by MALCOLM BURNS in Dundee

T&G general secretary Tony Woodley told the STUC congress yesterday that restoring the pension links with earnings is "long, long, long overdue."

Speaking during a major debate on pensions, Mr Woodley insisted: "The third-term Labour government must find the means to do it, not the means-testing to stop it."

"Pensions are one of the hottest potatoes for our members today. Thousands have been robbed, millions face worse provision. The fat cats have feathered their own nests, while our members end up in pensioner poverty.

"We have a duty to organise and fight back to restore those final salary pensions schemes that those opportunistic bosses removed.

"We now have the pensions protection fund - yet, just over a year ago, at the TUC we were called 'lunatics' when we called for such a fund."

STUC General Council member Katrina Purcell welcomed the government's decision to shelve attacks on public-sector pensions last month in the face of a potential walkout by over a million workers.

She said: "If there is any sign of unwillingness after the election, I can assure them that the unions will be just as strong on May 6 as we were on March 23!" - a reference to the overwhelming support for industrial action among many public-sector unions.

Glasgow TUC delegate David Stark said: "Pensions are just deferred earnings and for public-sector workers pensions are a big part of their earnings.

"Why should it be right for the captains of industry and MPs and MSPs to look after their own pensions and at same time attack the public-service workers?"

TSSA general secretary Gerry Doherty backed a composite motion committing Congress to lobby the government to establish procedures - including training - for workplace pensions reps.

"Not only do we need pension representation at the bargaining table but that should be of the highest quality." Mr Docherty said.

Recalling the stuggles of the Maxwell pension campaigners, he warned: "The amounts at stake are vast," citing the railway pension scheme worth £8 billion - some four times as much as the industry itself was sold off for.

Hamish Drummond of the STUC youth committee called on unions to work alongside young workers to win pensions benefits, stating that young workers face unprecedented level of debt and are least able to afford to contribute to pensions.

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