RMT General Secretary Bob Crow warned yesterday that the Hutton Review will be ‘the spark that lights the blue touch paper of co-ordinated strike action’.
Crow said: ‘It is crystal clear from the Hutton Review that, from nurses to transport staff, the government intend to make staff work longer, pay more and get less.
‘Workers are now threatened with having their pension contracts ripped to shreds. This is a betrayal that will hit millions where it really hurts.’
Lord Hutton has recommended that final salary pension schemes covering civil servants, the NHS, teachers, local government staff, the police, armed forces and the fire service be scrapped in favour of career average schemes by 2015.
A ceiling should be imposed on employers’ contribution rates to the pension schemes.
Hutton also recommended that the normal pension age (NPA) of the new schemes should be linked to the state pension age.
That would involve increasing the NPA from 60 to 65 for some current public employees, and building in future increases for all staff as the state pension age rises progressively to 68, starting in 2020 with an increase to 66.
The police, armed forces and fire service currently have normal pension ages lower than 60 but Lord Hutton said they should retire at 60 in due course.
Fire Brigades Union general secretary Matt Wrack said: ‘This is the great pension’s robbery and is completely unacceptable to firefighters across the UK.
‘Expecting firefighters to work until they are 60 is wrong. Firefighting is a physically arduous job.
‘Peak fitness is essential where seconds can cost lives. The public will not want an ageing frontline fire and rescue service.’
Brian Strutton, National Secretary for Public Services, said: ‘Lord Hutton had a real chance to make sure low paid public sector workers have good quality, affordable pension schemes; but in failing to address the key issue of affordability to members, that chance has been wasted.
‘Many of his conclusions are questionable and will infuriate public sector workers. It’s not cogent enough to be a blueprint for reform but it might well light the blue touch paper for industrial action.’
Unison also warned that the Hutton report will bring the threat of industrial action closer, as the union’s members reel from pay freezes and job cuts.
Jon Skewes, Director of Employment Relations and Development at the Royal College of Midwives (RCM), warned: ‘On top of pay freezes, cuts to services and threats to the NHS itself, this will be seen as a slap in the face for hard-pressed midwives and maternity support workers.
‘They will react with anger and dismay and many may vote with their feet and leave the NHS.’
The average NHS pension is just £7,000 a year, with over half of women getting less than £3,500 a year.
