[OccupySheffield] The truth about the unions and the the government's pensions 'agreement'

[David Kirkham]

All is not as reported by our media...
  

Please circulate the attached documents 
widely. As you can see UNITE has stayed firm! 
 
Martin Mayer
 
UPDATE ‐ PUBLIC SERVICE PENSIONS
GOVERNMENT’S ‘FALSE TIMETABLES’ AND ‘FINAL OFFERS’
LEAD TO GROWING FRUSTRATIONS AND ANGER
Firstly, congratulations on the 
fantastic show of determination, confidence and increasing
anger by hundreds of thousands of public sector workers 
‐ supported by a growing 
alliance
of our youth, pensioners and anti cuts groups ‐ in cities and towns across our nations 
on 30
November. It was a day for our 
trade union movement to stand united and proud and we
did!
Secondly, you will have read over 
the past few days of ‘deals’ being reached between
government and the joint unions over the future the schemes 
affecting millions of public
sector workers. This is simply 
not true. Despite the rhetoric from government 
ministers, no
‘deals’ have been concluded in any of the schemes.
The position of your union, Unite, is very clear. We have 
approached discussions in each of
the three schemes in which we have members; Civil Service, Health 
and Local Authorities,
in a professional and committed way in order to explore every 
option in an attempt to
convince government that its attack on public service workers is 
unjust and unacceptable.
In return, government has imposed changes, failed to negotiate in 
good faith, refused to
provide necessary information and forced deadlines and timetables 
into very complex and
difficult negotiations that are simply unacceptable.
In each scheme various solutions have been sought to address our 
concerns, this update
gives a brief summary of Unites position in respect of each 
scheme.
1. Civil Service. 
Despite our best efforts and those of the joint 
unions we have not signed
up to the final ‘Heads of Agreement’ document put forward by 
government. This is a
position shared by the PCS union and follows extensive discussions 
with our leading lay
members within the sector who believe that the ‘offer’ is simply 
not good enough.
2. Health. While we remain concerned about the lack of progress in key areas 
contained
in the final ‘Heads of Agreement’ document and have not had the 
opportunity to
consult fully with our senior lay leadership in the sector we 
have not signed 
up and
have been clear that we will not be bounced into accepting 
anything by false deadlines
imposed by government.
We will be consulting fully with our national lay committee in the 
new‐year on the
proposals in Health and our members will rightly decide our future 
course.
3. Local 
Government. Only in Local Government ‐ where we are negotiating with the
employers directly and not government ‐ 
has any genuine progress on the real issues
between us been possible and a ‘Principles Document’ was agreed 
with the employers,
following full consultation with our leading lay membership, 
between Unite, Unison
and the GMB and the Local Government employers group.
This framework allows for further negotiations over the next year 
on a range of issues
that are of central importance to our membership. This agreement 
however, has now
been suspended following the issuing 
yesterday of a letter from the Communities
Secretary; Eric Pickles, detailing an imposed ‘cost ceiling’ for 
the employers and other
issues of serious concern.
We are now seeking an urgent meeting with Ministers and will not 
be lifting our
suspension before a reconvened meeting of our lay national 
committee has had an
opportunity to discuss and evaluate this development in the new 
year, we will be
guided as always by our members.
As you can see from the above, negotiations is all three schemes 
has been extremely
frustrating and with government refusing to lift its impositions 
on RPI/CPI, contributions
increases and an increased state retirement age, very difficult at 
best.
Whatever the outcome of actual detailed negotiations, if and when 
these finally start in the
new‐year, it 
will be you, our members that will decide whether any deal is indeed
acceptable.
We are a proud lay democracy and your leadership is extremely 
proud of you.
Whatever develops on the many fronts we face as a labour movement 
as we enter 2012,
we wish you the best of wishes for the season and look forward to 
continuing our struggles
in the new‐year.
In solidarity
Len McCluskey
General Secretary



-- 
Sheffield Anti Cuts Alliance is a grass roots working class anti cuts organisation bringing together trade unionists, campaigners, students, the unemployed, pensioners and disabled people against the cuts.
http://sheffieldanticuts.wordpress.com

 		 	   		  
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