Campaign to save our pensions needed now

by John Stevenson

Following ominous signals from the Tories that they plan to attack public service pensions, UNISON’s Jane Carolan has warned that we must start campaigning now.

Jane, Scotland National Executive member and UK Policy Chair, told a meeting of Scottish branches last week, ”If anyone is going to save public sector pensions it is going to be us - we can’t rely on anyone else.

“We can’t wait for a general election, the union has to campaign now and campaign in a big way”.

The call comes after Tory leaders have been queueing up to float cuts in public sector pensions, joined by an ‘axis of misinformation’ from large sections of the media. A ‘race to the bottom’ to cut public sector pensions helps nobody and UNISON is urging private sector employers to do right by their workers and set up decent pension schemes.

“Countless private firms have closed their final-salary pension schemes, leaving workers facing poverty in their retirement, while they continue to make huge profits’, said UNISON General Secretary Dave Prentis.

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