For a fighting, rank-and-file controlled union
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“whether our aim is to achieve a negotiated agreement with the Trade Unions”
These words are from a letter written by Andrew Lansley to the Treasury regarding possible changes to public sector pensions Extracts from that letter can be found here. In his letter Mr Lansley, who is Secretary of State for Health, states: We also need to decide whether our aim is to achieve a negotiated…
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Does the average civil servant sit on a pension pot worth £500,000?
“A civil servant on a median salary – the middle salary – of £23,000 will receive after a career of 40 years (which many will have) a pension pot worth £500,000.” Francis Maude, Radio 4, 15 June 2011 This claim has been analysed by Full Fact who are an independent fact-checking organisation – an outfit…
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Pensions: will the poorest paid be protected
Danny Alexander claims yes. We examine whether this stands up. Mr Alexander, the Chief Secretary to the Treasury stated in a speech on the 17 June to the Institute for Public Policy Research: We are proposing in particular that the lowest earners will face the least, or even zero increase in their contributions. Our…
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Even Before Hutton Our Pensions Were Being Cut
Even without any changes recommended in the Hutton report, public sector pensions have been reduced in value by 25 per cent by a mix of negotiated change and the government’s arbitrary switch to the CPI measure of inflation So says the General Secretary of the Trades Union Congress Brendan Barber on the public sector pensions…
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Public Sector Pensions Are Far More Efficient Than Private Pensions
So state a number of economists who wrote to the Guardian on the 11 March They wrote: As economists we are opposed to the public sector pension reforms proposed by this government and Lord Hutton. Public sector pensions are far more efficient than private pensions. The net cost of paying public sector pensions in 2009/10…
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The Price Squeeze
Between November and December 2010 prices rose at their fastest pace on record. So states the ASDA Price Tracker website. They go on to say: “ The average UK household had £172 a week of discretionary income in December 2010, 4.5 per cent lower than a year earlier. The £8 a week fall compared…