Biggest strike for 100 years – union chief

Pensions revolt won't be like the miners – because we'll win, says Unison general secretary Dave Prentis


Polly Curtis, Whitehall correspondent
The Guardian, Saturday 18 June 2011

The leader of the largest public sector union promises to mount the most sustained campaign of industrial action the country has seen since the general strike of 1926, vowing not to back down until the government has dropped its controversial pension changes.

Dave Prentis, general secretary of Unison – which has 1.4 million members employed by the state – described plans for waves of strike action, with public services shut down on a daily basis, rolling from one region to the next and from sector to sector.

He said there was growing anger over a public sector pay freeze that could trigger more disputes further down the line and that the changes would unfairly penalise women, who form the majority of low-paid public sector workers. "It will be the biggest since the general strike. It won't be the miners' strike. We are going to win."

In an interview with the Guardian, Prentis – who also chairs the public sector group at the TUC – repeatedly insisted that he still hopes to negotiate a settlement with the government through talks that are currently under way.

But the prospect of a resolution looks increasingly remote after the government unilaterally set out details of the new public sector pension scheme on Friday, pre-empting the conclusion of the talks. Brendan Barber, the general secretary of the TUC, called the move "deeply inflammatory".

Prentis said: "I strongly believe that one day of industrial action will not change anyone's mind in government. We want to move towards a settlement. The purpose of industrial action is not industrial action, it is to get an agreement that is acceptable and long-lasting. But we are prepared for rolling action over an indefinite period. This coalition has got to open its eyes and see that in just reacting to a Daily Mail view of the public sector they are walking into a trap of their own making."

Prentis also called on the Labour party to support the unions' battle against the pension changes, saying that remaining silent will "become an issue".

The government has confirmed that it will raise pension contributions by 3.2 percentage points, increase the retirement age to 66 and move to a career average scheme to replace the more generous final salary version. Ministers argue it is unfair for other taxpayers to pay for more generous schemes for public employees than they might get in the private sector.

The unions say it amounts to an additional tax on public sector workers, with their additional contributions – a de facto pay cut – being used to reduce the deficit rather than fund pensions. It comes on top of job cuts, a pay freeze and controversial plans such as those for the NHS.

Prentis said that while pensions were the focus of the unions' industrial dispute – and the only issue that they could legally jointly strike on – his members were equally angry about the coalition's deficit reduction programme and its effects on the public sector.

"You can't just look at what's happening around pensions as a single issue. All our members provide public services. You look at what this coalition has decided to do to reduce the deficit and it's decided that most of the deficit reduction programme will be at the expense of our public services," he said.

"The people that we represent are facing redundancy, a two-year pay freeze, while inflation is 5% and gas prices are going up 20%, and they are desperately worried about privatisation of the services they have committed their working lives to."

He accused the government of trying to "soften up" public sector workers' rights to pave the way to privatising elements of the state. Referring to a consultation that could remove state employees' rights to keep their public sector pensions if their service is outsourced to the private sector, he said: "It means that cowboys that we used to have in the 1980s can put in bids that will always undermine the public service bid and they will get the contract not on the quality of work but because they are cheapest. It's just to soften the way for privatisation."

Turning to Labour, to which Unison is affiliated – individual members have an opt-out – he said: "We want our Labour party to be the voice of opposition. We're worried that some of the senior people in the party still have to make statements as if they are in power, not opposition."

Prentis added: "I've got a lot of time for Ed Miliband. He's new, he's only been there for eight months and he will improve – and we've got to give him time to do that – but the way in which certain elements in the party are not uniting where we need them to be is not helping. If the Labour party stays quiet that will be an issue. This isn't a kneejerk reaction, this will be a long programme of action and we will expect the Labour party to support that."

Unison is one of Labour's largest donors, giving £423,000 in the past year alone.

Prentis said he had full support from his members and they were now recruiting support for the campaign outside the workplace, sending representatives into community groups to garner support. A motion at the union's conference next week would formalise this campaign, recognising that traditional workplace union recruitment is falling.

Angela Eagle, Labour's shadow chief secretary to the Treasury, said: "What we are seeing today is the latest calamitous episode of this government's completely chaotic way of running the country.

"Today, Danny Alexander [the Treasury chief secretary] has made an announcement about the retirement age whilst they are in the middle of negotiations with the trade unions. If they are serious about reforming public sector pensions and serious about getting this proposal agreed then Danny Alexander has gone about it in the most incompetent way imaginable."

She added: "Strikes are always a failure on both sides. Everyone agrees public sector pensions need to change as people live longer. But the government should be getting round the table and talking changes through. Instead we have got another bout of mismanagement and chaos."

Biggest strike for 100 years ? union chief | Politics | The Guardian

Oh dear. I wanted to do the civil service exams in Autumn, I hope this doesn't bugger it up.

__________________
Standard disclaimer: the disgusting statements contained in this post are the views of the poster, and unless specified do not represent the views of the moderators or the site's owners.

Treasury backtracks on Danny Alexander's pension reform plan

Union backlash leaves reforms in disarray as Treasury says Alexander's speech did not contain 'concrete policies'

Toby Helm
guardian.co.uk, Saturday 18 June 2011 19.04 BST

Government policy on reform of public sector pensions has been plunged into disarray after the Treasury suddenly backtracked on announcements made on Friday by the Treasury chief secretary, Danny Alexander.

Alexander caused fury in the union movement – and triggered threats of sustained strike action – after he unveiled detailed plans for increasing pension contributions for millions of public sector workers during a speech to the Institute for Public Policy Research (IPPR) thinktank.

He also announced that the government would increase the pension age for public sector workers to 66 by 2020, putting them in line with the state pension age.

However, after a union backlash which saw Dave Prentis, general secretary of Unison, warn of strike action comparable to the general strike of 1926, the Treasury said that Alexander's speech contained merely suggestions, not policy. "What the chief secretary put forward were not concrete policies. They are proposals that are subject to negotiations. That is why we are still in negotiations," said a Treasury official.

"We are continuing to discuss these issues with the unions."

The unions were furious that Alexander had appeared to announce the government's policy while they were still in protracted negotiations with ministers on the issues.

Alexander told the IPPR that contributions would rise on average by 3.2% for public sector workers. But low-paid workers earning £15,000 or less would be protected and not asked to pay extra contributions.

The unions and pensions experts had expected the threshold to be set higher than £15,000, meaning more workers would be protected from rises.

The sudden change suggests ministers are seriously worried that a one-day strike by teachers and civil servants on 30 June could be just the beginning of a rolling programme running through late summer and into the autumn.

A senior union source told The Observer that it was clear Alexander had jumped the gun as the Treasury attempted to show it was taking a hard line on the burgeoning pensions bill.

"Danny Alexander has been reined in by the Cabinet Office," said a union source. "What he did was inflammatory and showed no sense of the seriousness of these issues for people's lives."

Public sector workers are already enduring a two-year pay freeze and experts say that many will suffer a 10% cut in real wages once increases in pension contributions are finalised.

Treasury backtracks on Danny Alexander's pension reform plan | Politics | The Observer

School walkouts planned to coincide with public sector strikes

Thousands of school and college students prepare to join public sector strikes against cuts on 30 June

Matthew Taylor
guardian.co.uk, Monday 20 June 2011 10.22 BST


Thousands of school and college students are expected to stage walkouts this month as part of a growing wave of occupations and demonstrations planned to support the co-ordinated strike action organised by trade unions.

Students behind last year's demonstrations against cuts to post-16 education are mobilising in schools and further education colleges as part of a wider campaign to turn 30 June into a national day of action against the government's austerity programme.

The move follows the announcement this week by the direct action group UK Uncut that it would be joining picket lines and staging a "public spectacular" in London to coincide with the industrial action.

Michael Chessum from the National Campaign Against Fees and Cuts, one of the student groups behind last year's protests, said: "It was the student movement before Christmas that really kicked many of the major unions into action, and we'll be there again in force on 30 June. One of the successes of the student movement was that we abandoned passive, A-to-B marches in favour of direct action in the streets and on campuses. Mass strike action is the logical extension of that. We're not here to protest; we're here to actively resist."

More than 750,000 public sector workers from major unions including the Public and Commercial Services Union, the National Union of Teachers and the Association of Teachers and Lectures are expected to take part in this month's industrial action. The strike, which will be the largest in the UK for several years, is expected to bring schools, colleges, universities, courts, ports and jobcentres to a standstill, and comes as millions of staff face pay freezes, job losses and pension reforms.

Activists say the wider campaign of demonstrations, occupations and walkouts will build a broad coalition of people opposed to the government's programme of cuts and has been inspired, in part, by protests across Europe over recent months – particularly those in Spain and Greece.

As part of the preparations, anti-cuts groups have held a series of "J30 assemblies" across the country under the "generalise the strike" slogan, to plan events and mobilise support.

Over the next few weeks, assemblies will be held in Birmingham, London, Leeds, Newcastle, Norwich, Sheffield and Sunderland. Another group, Right to Work, says it has organised more than 40 events to coincide with the strikes.

One of the organisers of the J30 assemblies, Alex Long, said they had been strongly influenced by protests held in Spain last month. "We want to approach this whole 30 June strike day in a more general way, to use it as a general day of action against the cuts," he said.

In London, activists say they are planning a number of direct action campaigns on 30 June, with events in the City of London and Westminster, including Oxford Street. There is also a call to occupy Trafalgar Square and a Facebook page calling for people to join a "black bloc" protest (the black bloc being the group blamed for smashing up shops during the TUC demonstration in March).

Tens of thousands of students from further education colleges and schools took part in last year's demonstrations against the rise in tuition fees and the scrapping of the education maintenance allowance, and activists hope many will walk out of classes at the end of this month.

Campaigners have been leafleting colleges and schools, calling on students to hold meetings, make contact with teachers who are union reps and organise walkouts on the day.

School walkouts planned to coincide with public sector strikes | World news | The Guardian