Thousands of civil service jobs have disappeared in an unprecedented jobs cull and members have been made compulsorily redundant. For many members a national defence of jobs is a necessary part of their retaining working membership of the pension scheme. Unfortunately the union has gone “cold” on jobs as it has overwhelmingly concentrated on pensions. This means groups and branches have been left to fend for themselves in the defence of employment.

In contrast we have argued for a defence of jobs, pay and pensions – we don’t see that each is isolated from the other. Members voted “Yes” for action on jobs, pay and pensions. The current NEC has run a pension’s only dispute. With continuing job losses, ever declining living standards and now the threat of regional pay we must rebalance the campaign and fight industrially on all three issues.