UNISON members at their national delegate conference in Manchester yesterday voted unanimously to oppose the attack on their pensions with coordinated industrial action.
Before debating Composite B: Defending Our Pensions, Jane Carolan made a statement on behalf of the National Executive Committee.
She said: ‘I was asked to make a statement that is not political, but the coalition wants us to work longer, pay more and get less.’
She added: ‘We’ve a government with no democratic mandate raising money for the Treasury from our pensions.
‘The only thing that is good about these proposals is when they are dead.
‘We will continue to take legal action, but we will have to fight.
‘We will have to take strike action, a strike that is unprecedented and smart.
‘As David Prentis said yesterday, one day won’t be enough.’
She added: ‘We need unity across all sectors of the union and unity by all the public sector unions coordinated by the TUC.’
She concluded by calling for Unison demonstrations and rallies in support of civil servants and teachers and lecturers when they came out on strike on June 30.
Moving Composite B, Lillian Macer of Scotland said: ‘It is vital that this government is stopped.
‘The attack on our pensions is designed to make it easier to privatise our public services.’
She warned that increasing contributions will see people leaving the pension scheme in large numbers.
She claimed: ‘It’s not about economics, it’s about politics.’
She added: ‘It’s about politics that hates public services and likes privatisation.’
She warned: ‘If they cut our pensions, they’ll be coming for our jobs next.’
She concluded: ‘Let’s unite and stop the great pensions robbery.’
John McLaughlan, Tower Hamlets Local Government, declared: ‘When Dave Prentis calls for coordinated strike action, he speaks for us all.’
He added: ‘This is about class.’
