Level pensions up - not down

STUC: by Kate Ramsden

The State Pension is a right not a benefit and should be an entitlement for older people.

The STUC called on the government to restore the earnings or prices link, ensure the pension is universal and is raised above the poverty level. It also condemned attacks on occupational pensions.

UNISON’s Catriona Beveridge told delegates that we, in the public sector, have been accused of having ‘gold-plated’ pensions.

“How would we define that?” asked Catriona. “Would it be £750,000 a year or whatever Fred Goodwin’s pension is? Or would it be £3,800 a year? Because that’s the actual level of the average pension for local government workers in Britain - It’s more tin-foil that gold-plated”, she said.

Catriona slammed the myths peddled by the Daily Mail and the Taxpayers Alliance and pointed out that the real pensions divide is not between the private and the public sector but between the rich and the poor.

“We should be levelling up - not down”, she warned. ..More on STUC pages

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