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January 26th - Camden Meeting on Pensions 
Janice Godrich, PCS addresses
Camden Rally on pensions
Friends meeting house was packed on 26th January for a
meeting called by Camden Association. On the platform were represented NATFHE,
UNISON, PCS, FBU and ourselves.
Contributions included:
- John Wilkins of NATFHE explaining that early
retirement accounts for 38% of all lecturers retiring.
- Mike Shaw from FBU asked whether people wanted 65
year olds hauling them from burning buildings.
- One retired teacher explaining that in one London
school there had been four deaths in service in recent years.
The opposition to government proposals
is clear. Tony Brockman (on behalf of the national union) indicated that 5
million public sector workers are in opposition.
UNISON have had an 82% indicative ballot
in favour of 1 day action. PCS with 300,000 members are looking for joint
public sector action on pensions.
Lambeth Teachers Association hopes that
Tony Brockman’s caution in supporting calls for strike action won’t
have translated into non-action at the executive called on January 27th.
Make no mistake about it—Blair is a
left compared to what can follow if adverse changes are made. Bernard Regan
(exec member) warned at the meeting that Bush and Schwarzenegger proposals mean
privatisation - you’d be paid badly or very badly according to the
fluctuations of the stock market.
NUT’s alliance on pensions ,
including all educational unions is commendable, but is no substitute for the
joint action involving millions of public sector workers including UNISON, PCS,
FBU and NATFHE.
There is a day of action called for
February 18th. This is half -term, but NUT members should try to give support
locally. A definite date for strike action has yet to be finalised (March 21st
is a likely date). However, whatever day— hopefully before Easter—is
called, NUT should pull out all the stops to be part of it. Why? Quite simply
the alternative is worse. Much, much worse. |
