Strike Action Likely Across Public Sectors

Unison has said that it is preparing to ballot for industrial action over pension schemes, should talks on June 27 not end in an agreement.

The General Secretary of Unison, Dave Prentis, spoke ahead of the union’s annual conference next week in Manchester:

"Be in no doubt this union is on the road to industrial action in the autumn," he said.

Unison represents 1.3million workers across local government, health care, education and the voluntary sector.

Mr Prentis continued: “This will not be a one-day action, as we know that will not change anything. This is longer term industrial action to prevent the destruction of public service pension schemes.

“The only thing that can stop this is if the government allows us to negotiate.”

Teaching Unions Vote For Strike Action

Unison preparing to ballot for strike action follows the ballots held by the two teaching unions over pensions.

The National Union of Teachers (NUT), and the Association of Teachers and Lecturers (ATL), released the results of their ballots on Tuesday.

The results of the ballot conducted by the ATL, a union usually notable for its moderate stance, are overwhelmingly in favour of strike action if the government does not shelve its proposals.

One third of the publicly funded sector members eligible to vote participated in the ballot, and of the voters, over 18,000 voted for strike action, with less than 4,000 voting against.

Of the independent sector ATL members who voted, 83%, 4,444 voters, said “yes” to the strikes, compared to only 868 which voted “no”.

ATL General Secretary, Dr Mary Bousted, communicated the outcome of the ballot to the government, “building on ATL's reasoned approach before and during the ballot at recent meetings with the education minister”.

The ATL clarified to the government that: “We shall cancel our strike if there's any breakthrough in the talks.

“But the government has not backed down on its plan to announce its decision on an increase to pension contributions once talks with the TUC close at the end of June.”

Dr Bousted added: “That's why we're preparing to take action now to influence this decision, rather than just protesting against its imposition afterwards.”

The results of the NUT ballot also announced an “overwhelming endorsement by its members for strike action to defend teachers' pensions”.

In the NUT strike ballot, 92% voted in favour of strike action, with a turnout of 40%.

Christine Blower, General Secretary of the National Union of Teachers, said:

"The government's unnecessary attack on public sector pensions has convinced NUT members that there is no alternative but to support strike action.

"It is disgraceful that the government is pressing ahead with its reforms which will affect teachers' pensions. The government knows that they are affordable. This is a policy which has nothing to do with economics and everything to do with politics.

"The NUT is party to the TUC negotiations with the government to protect public sector pensions. It is not too late for common sense to prevail and for these unnecessary changes to be stopped. It is in no one's interest to create a whole new swathe of people who are a burden on the taxpayer in old age.

"The NUT, alongside TUC affiliated unions, will do all we can to ensure fair pensions for all."

The NUT executive will be meeting tomorrow to take the formal decision on a day of national strike action planned for June 30.

Public servants “paying for a recession they didn’t cause”

The Public and Commercial Services Union (PCS) will be revealing the results of their ballot for industrial action on Wednesday.

Ahead of the outcome, The Fresh Outlook spoke with PCS spokesperson Richard Simcox.

He said: “We expect a strong vote in favour of taking industrial action. Our members can see that everything they have ever worked for is under threat from this government - their jobs are at risk, and their pay and pensions are being cut.”

With regards to the possibility of a Unison ballot, he added: “We have no doubt that Unison members feel exactly the same as our members.

“They are fed up with being made to pay with their livelihoods for a recession caused by greed and recklessness in the financial sector.

“We hope that the public will support us and that together we can force the government to trying to blame public servants, who work hard and do a good job often for a very modest reward, for a recession they didn't cause.

“We want the government to create jobs, not cut them, and invest in our public services to help get the economy back on its feet.

“We want an end to the pay freeze, we want no detrimental changes to pensions and we want the government to strengthen an existing agreement we have with the Cabinet Office to protect jobs by avoiding compulsory redundancies.”

He concluded: “It would be very significant if Unison - which represents more than one million public sector workers in local government and health - were to join us in taking industrial action. The government would not be able to ignore the voices of this many public servants.”

By Millie Schurch

[Image courtesy of Glastonbury Left Field]