Transcript Defend YOUR pension Stop the move to a divisive career

Defend YOUR pension
Stop the move to a divisive career
average pension scheme.
Report by Malcolm Povey for UCU EGM 22nd June
2011
Vote YES for action short of strike and
YES for strike action
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.Employers impose vicious pension cuts
◦ On Tuesday 10th May the employers, using threats of legal
action and bankruptcy against union negotiators, and using
the casting vote of the “independent” chair, imposed their
vicious proposals for the USS scheme.
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These include:◦
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· Reducing pensions for everyone
· Index-linking to CPI rather than RPI
· Increasing retirement age
· A divisive career average scheme for new starters
· Making it cheaper to make over-50s redundant,
· Treating staff who leave the scheme during their career
as ‘new starters’ when they return.
◦ · Inflation capping
We need to resist
We cannot accept this attack on our pensions.
We already face a massive assault on pay and jobs.
On pay, the employers have offered £100 per
annum while RPI is around 5.0%. We are losing
thousands of jobs in the sector, with job losses in
almost every institution.
 To accept imposition of changes to USS without a
fight sends a green light to the employers to keep
attacking us. This would be fatal at a time when
they and the Con-Dem government are
determined to make us pay for their crisis.
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The health of USS
Despite the recent fall in the stock market, USS is
in good health. The fund increased by £8.4bn in
the year to March 2010, owing to abolition of the
mandatory retirement age and changes in
indexation. Payments into USS exceed current
pension committments.
 The cuts are unnecessary.
 The employers are out to steal our pensions, cut
their expenditure and make it cheaper to sack
staff. The imposed changes risk new starters not
joining USS, undermining the scheme and
providing an excuse for future cuts.
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Why we must reject two tiers
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UCU members who took strike action for two days in March did
so in defence of our final salary pension scheme. Members knew, as
UCU pointed out, that a pension based on average salary over a
career means a worse pension. Members also knew that once a
career average scheme was introduced for new starters, it wouldn’t
be long before the employers exploited this divide and forced the
career average scheme onto all of us.
The employers pretend that career average schemes are ‘fairer’
because the low paid don’t subsidise the top earners, but the
solution to this would be a cap on pensions above a certain salary
level – not to impose reduced pensions on everyone.
Would we accept a lesser scheme? Why should new starters? Twotier schemes tend to become multi-tier, and members can find
themselves forcibly transferred onto lesser terms for future
contributions. In the Civil Service there are now four tiers! The
employers will come back for more cuts every year.
Benefits +
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The Pensions section of the
recent University of Leeds
‘digital booklet’ Benefits+
2011 contains these words of
comfort:
“All staff have the opportunity
to join a generous final salary
pension scheme, which offers
the following: A pension and
tax free cash sum on
retirement, linked to the level
of your salary and service
when you retire.
Pensions which increase in
payment in line with
inflation.”
Inflation capping
http://www.bankofengland.co.uk/education/inflation/timeline/chart.htm
Recommended next steps
Motion for EGM
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This General Meeting of Leeds University UCU notes that we are being
consulted over the forms of action needed to defend our pensions.
We note that any form of action short of strike which has a serious effect
on University Activity is likely to result in the deduction of a full days salary
by University Management. We have been warned of this twice in emails to
all members by the University Secretary and in the advice set out by the
national employers’ body UCEA.
The effective and successful strike action taken on the 22nd and 24th March
needs to be built upon.
We note that the current rate of inflation is already close to the cap on
inflation protection to be imposed by the employer and that an inflationary
period such as that experienced in the 1970s would almost wipe out our
pensions altogether, given the employers’ cap. We further note that it
would take months if not years of strike action before we lost the
equivalent in pay to the detriment the employer intends to impose upon
us.
In the event of a positive outcome to the USS ballot being held between
20th June and 14th September, this branch is of the view that strike action
will be necessary to bring the employer back to the negotiating table and
to avoid the possibility of 100% deductions for action short of a strike.
Calendar
◦ National Strike Day over Pensions – June 30th
◦ Picket lines at Leeds Met, Leeds College of
Art and Leeds College – Leeds University
UCU will be supporting our colleague’s picket
lines
◦ March from Leeds Met Library, meet 1130 to
Rally in City Square at 12, with speakers from
UCU, NUT, ATL and PCS.