THE TUC Congress in Brighton ended on Wednesday with a call on the TUC General Council to campaign for a state pension above the official poverty level and for universal access to a decent occupational pension for all workers.
Delegates voted unanimously for Composite Motion 07 Pensions. Moving the motion on behalf of TSSA Josey Grimshaw expressed ‘concerns about market-based pensions’. She added: ‘The government wants single-tier pensions of £148.30 a week.
‘The state pension age is rising. Firefighters face losing their job at 55 and having their pensions reduced. And the government are allowing people to withdraw their pension early, which risks long-term security. Older people working longer means less jobs for young people. People in lesser-paid low-skill jobs are working longer. It’s work longer, pay more and get less! We have to ensure pensions are above the poverty line.’
Seconder Nick Derbyshire, CWU, said: ‘It’s a scandal today that 1.6 million pensioners are living below the poverty line. Pensioners looking after children will not get the full amount. We need a guaranteed flat-rate state pension for all with an above poverty rate guaranteed.’
On occupational pensions, he said: ‘Defined contribution pensions do not give enough to live on, there needs to be increased contributions. Too much of the burden is placed on employees, and not enough on employers.’ He concluded: ‘Let’s have a decent pension for a decent life.’
Speaking in support, Joanna De Groot, UCU, said: ‘Under the post-war Welfare State, it guaranteed the ability to retire and not live in poverty. Today pensions are being slashed by faceless experts.
‘Valuation is not economic, it’s deeply political. Behind the dark art of actuary advisers, the real value of pension assets is billions of pounds. They are out to create the conditions for defined contribution and end final salary pensions so risk is tranferred to the individual.’
Andy Wilson of UCATT, said: ‘The construction industry is casualised and this leads to pension poverty. People are moved from site to site and one employer to another, not able to join one pension scheme. We’ve a problem with umbrella companies whose workers are forced to pay the employer’s contribution as well as their own.’ He concluded by calling for ‘decent pension provision for all workers, wherever they are employed’.
Unison delegate Wendy Nichols told Congress: ‘Pension provision is declining. Defined contribution means you are required to bear the risk of the market. We need employer contributions of 15 per cent. The government keeps putting ideology before adequate security in retirement. Allowing workers to take out pots of cash is likely to see them invest in the stock market. In 2016, you will not get a full pension, many workers will receive £138 a week.’
Delegates went on to pass Composite Motion 08 Retirement Age. It was moved by Irene Guidotti of the Society of Chiropodists and Podiatrists (SCP). She told Congress: ‘Retirement and access to a state an occupational pension is being pushed to 68 and beyond.
‘We see members suffering from RSI (repetitive strain injury) and problems with their hands, neck and back affecting people’s ability to continue working. The pressure on working people seeing them losing the ability to work and extending the retirement age adds up to them leaving work before they can access their pension.’
Seconder Alex MacKenzie, Chartered Society of Physiotherapists, said: ‘The government has announced plans for a further increase in the retirement age. Physiotherapists’ work is rewarding but physically active. Whilst my colleagues and I can do it now, we don’t see ourselves doing it when we are 65 or 70. I fear for workers who retire early and are forced to live in poverty. We need a decent living for older workers.’
Tony Draper of new TUC affiliate the NAHT, said: ‘We represent school leaders, together with the TUC, we surveyed the effects of working longer. People expressed concerns over stress and ill health through working longer. Moving the retirement age further and further is bad for the economy.
‘Education is about the quality of teacher, working longer will jeopardise that.’
Earlier NASUWT general secretary Chris Keates moved Motion 75 Government attacks on civil rights. She said: ‘Since 2010 we have endured sustained, brutal attacks on our welfare state, our public services, on trade unions, on democracy and on our rights and freedoms.’
Keates added: ‘The building blocks of a decent society are being torn down and replaced with one where profiteers and privateers are revered and feted, where the wealthy and privileged thrive, while ordinary working people’s basic rights and entitlements are stripped away. Employers are allowed, and indeed encouraged, to exploit their workforce. And legislative provisions are used to stifle opposition and attack our democratic freedoms and our social values. These rights were hard won and easily lost.’
Congress went on to demand a curb on police racism. Motion 76 Stop and Search called on the TUC General Council ‘to campaign to:
i. make police forces accountable for their stop and search figures while ensuring they establish plans to change their culture
‘ii. have the TUC become a vocal advocate for the plight of BAME (Black, Asian and Ethnic Minority) communities.’
Moving the motion from the TUC Black Workers Conference, GMB member Farzan Jumma said: ‘Whenever I see police with a car on the side of the road, I see people being searched who are black or Asian males. When you are stopped it’s a humiliating experience – being treated like a criminal. You are taken out of your car and into a police van and subjected to a very personal search. My nephew has been subjected to stop and search. It’s wrong and it’s racist.
‘Even though they may be victims of crime black and asian people are treated as suspicious by police. In 1981, stop and search caused the Brixton riots. We have witnessed the alienation of our youth. The Stephen Lawrence Inquiry raised the issue of stop and search. This cannot go on. We call on the General Council to lobby the government for the full implementation of all the recommendations of the Stephen Lawrence inquiry.’
Seconding the motion, Carol Hodgson of Community said: ‘In some areas, black people are 75 per cent more likely to be stopped and searched. We live in a racist society and the police are institutionalised racists. My brother is an Aston Villa fan and whenever he goes to London to watch a match, he is stopped and searched. I welcome the report calling for an end to stop and search.’
Speaking in support, Margaret Greer of Unison said: ‘It is unacceptable that black people are more likely to be sopped and searched. Many in the black community can only see this as racial profiling. We know the Macpherson Report made several recommendations. Almost two decades since some of them have not been implemented.’
She warned: ‘There is a pressure cooker situation developing with our young black people. My nephew has been stopped fifteen times since 1976.’ She concluded: ‘Behind the headlines are real people, Black Lives Matter!’
