Picket lines for 30th June industrial action

We have been notified of some of the picket lines in operation this Thursday - they have ben added to the dedicated page at the top of our blog. We shall continue to add details as we are made aware of them.

More broken promises – women and the State Pension Age - Touchstone blog by Scarlett Harris

Earlier this year Sarah Veale, Head of Equality and Employment Rights at the TUC, blogged on this site about the impact of changes to the State Pension Age on women.
Since then campaigns by Rachel Reeves MP, Age UK, Unions Together, and individual unions have all gathered momentum. Even some coalition partners have got in on the act with some Lib Dems expressing concern over the departure from the coalition agreement that these changes represent.
Just to recap, the Coalition Agreement said that the state pension age (SPA) would rise to 66 but this would “not be sooner than 2016 for men and 2020 for women.” Since then the Government performed a dramatic U-turn and published draft legislation to accelerate the equalisation for women by 2018, and then increase both men and women’s state pension ages to 66 by 2020. Women aged around 56 and 57 are set to lose the most from this shift in the goalposts, with very little time to prepare or amend existing plans.
Want to read more of this Touchstone article? Click on the link: http://www.touchstoneblog.org.uk/2011/05/more-broken-promises-women-and-the-state-pension-age/

NUJ strike at the BBC over pensions

Cheryl Pidgeon, left,
and Chris Morley addressing
striking NUJ members outside
The Mailbox in Birmingham

NUJ members have been out in force today protesting about the attack on their pension scheme by the BBC.
They are being asked to take pension cuts of between £100,000 and £10,000.
These are the kinds of sums every BBC employee faces losing under plans to impose changes on their pensions.
"It’s unfair and unacceptable", said NUJ Northern Organiser Chris Morley, " NUJ members have paid their contributions every month to save for a decent retirement – now the BBC is seeking to unilaterally alter the terms of the pension scheme and devalue the pension entitlement they have already built up. For all BBC staff it means paying more, working longer or getting significantly lower pensions. In some cases, all three!"

The BBC does not yet even know the size of any pension scheme deficit – the valuation is not due until next year.

Cheryl Pidgeon, Midlands TUC Regional Secretary added, "I spoke to a number of NUJ members on the picket line today and it is clear they wouldn’t feel so angry if BBC staff really were all in this together – but senior BBC executives are still enjoying their £1m pay-offs and pensions of up to £230,000 a year."

The NUJ is not asking for higher pensions. It is not even saying it wouldn’t consider paying more or working longer for a fair pension settlement.

"What we don't want" said Chris Morley, "is a pension which will lose a significant part of its value every single year for the rest of our lives – which is what will happen under the BBC’s current proposals. It also means a pension where what has been promised to us - which we have already paid for - is protected."