Pensions

Red Pill #4 - April-May 2012

An industrial bulletin for healthworkers, with articles on the Unison vote on the pensions deal, the potential strike on 10 May and the Unison SGE elections. Click here to download the PDF.

Unite “aims for” strike on 10 May

A recent decision by the leadership of the Unite union’s health section to “aim for” another strike over pensions on 10 May offers a glimmer of hope in the battle to revive a national industrial campaign on the issue. NHS workers in Unite voted by 94% to reject the government’s pensions deal, but Unite officials mobilised against left-wingers on its National Industrial Sector Committees (NISCs) to prevent the union giving a lead on, or participating in, strike action since 30 November. According to Gill George, a Socialist Workers’ Party member on the health NISC, there has been a “change of...

NUT grassroots get organised as leadership moves to block pensions fightback

At the National Union of Teachers conference, in Torquay between 6 and 10 April, activists finally began to get organised to fight for rank-and-file control in the fight over pensions. The behaviour of the NUT leadership at the conference, and the official "left" that supports it, showed how much such a rank-and-file movement is needed. On the opening Friday night of the conference, NUT associations (branches) from across the country organised a fringe meeting to discuss the way forward for getting further national action, under the "Local Associations for Action on Pensions" banner. It was...

Teachers' pensions fight: next steps

Activists of the National Union of Teachers and the UCU in London have worked hard to get a good turn-out for the regional one-day strike on 28 March over the Government’s pension changes called by their union leaders after those leaders had overruled member surveys showing big majorities for a national strike. The indications are for a reasonable showing. Much better could have been achieved if the London strike had been called as part of the national strike, together with other unions, which was on the cards until the NUT Executive on 14 March cancelled it — leading to domino-effect...

Despite strong London strike, NUT leaders commit only to "review"

The teachers' (NUT) and lecturers' (UCU) strike in London on 28 March was strong, with a lively demonstration maybe 10,000 strong. Yet NUT Exec will put a "priority motion" to its 6-10 April conference which commits it only to "reviewing" things and then maybe calling more action. The 28 March demonstration was lively The way NUT conferences work is that debate on the issue will be around amendments to this motion from the floor, and motions from local NUT branches will be effectively superseded. If you want to know what the Executive proposes, skip the blah-blah which makes up most of the...

Unite's "United Left" debates pensions dispute

Throughout the pensions dispute, it has been rare for activists to get the chance to debate the direction of the dispute and the best tactics to win. On Saturday 24 March, at AGM of the United Left in the Unite union, over 100 activists had the chance to question Unite leader Len McCluskey. In his speech McCluskey talked about civil disobedience and a demonstration in defence of the health service, He also talked about the loss of momentum on pensions dispute. He said that if he had been in charge (he became General Secretary in January 2011), there would have been action straight away. With...

The teachers' pension campaign: a reckoning

As the Easter (6-10 April) conference of the National Union of Teachers approaches, Patrick Murphy draws the lessons from two years of campaigning against the Government's pension changes. Whatever differences there were between delegates at last year’s National Union of Teachers [NUT] conference, on one thing all were agreed. The Coalition’s pension proposals were the greatest threat to our members’ conditions of service in living memory and the most serious challenge the Union had faced for many decades. Defeating them was vital, would require industrial action on a huge scale and was a...

Scots strike for NHS pensions

Thirty Unison members working in the Central De-Contamination Unit in Ayrshire Central Hospital (Irvine) staged a 48-hour strike on 13-14 March as part of the union’s ongoing campaign in defence of NHS pensions in Scotland. The unit had been opened just a week earlier by Scottish Health Secretary Nicola Sturgeon. “She was happy to meet the staff then, have the plaudits, have the photo opportunities. This week, she’s chosen to ignore us. Rather than come and discuss the pensions issue, she decided to put the legislation through Parliament the same day,” said Unison rep Elaine McLeod. Unison is...

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