Thursday 24 February 2011

Coordinate strike aciton agaisnt all the cuts

Typical bad luck! The second NEC meeting since I got elected clashed with by my Branch AGM, and so I missed a discussion on coordinated strike action in defence of our pensions.

Our pensions are now pegged to CPI instead of RPI, which means our they'll be worth 15 percent less when we get them. We're likely to be made to pay more, work longer and get less in return. We might well see an attack on the 'final salary' aspect, and see an 'average salary' pension instead. Great. So what do we do about it?

"We need to make sure our members know about these threats," said Mr Prentis, warning that the attacks could be the issue which sees co-ordinated national industrial action. And if action is necessary, he warned, it will need to be on a scale greater than in 2007.
I argued at Higher Ed conference we need to prepare for coordinated industrial action in defence of our public services. And as I rushed back to Holloway Road for our AGM, we heard about these attacks in greater detail from Glynn Jenkins, Head of Pensions at UNISON.

A good turn out again at our AGM, means most of our members are well aware of these attacks and the need to fight them (and just one member was not in a pension).

We're continuing to build our branch and get ready for action in defence of job cuts, pay cuts and pension cuts - they're all part of the same package. And as I said before: give them an inch, and they'll take a mile. We shouldn't be weak on pay because we're fighting or pensions or jobs.

I'll post some more on the NEC later, as well as our my report to our branch AGM, specifically on the Rule Changes (and disciplinary action), on organising and on Palestine. Until then, read these reports:

From UNISON:
http://www.unison.org.uk/news/news_view.asp?did=6622

UNISON Active (Bob Oram)
http://unisonactive.blogspot.com/2011/02/and-now-end-is-near-report-of-last-ever.html

And from NEC member for London, Jon Rogers, who is good at reporting in detail from these meetings:
http://jonrogers1963.blogspot.com/2011/02/pensions-time-for-action.html

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