Public sector unions should defend their pensions contract

Whenever the Tories come to power there is conflict, industrial action and strikes. Why?

They are renowned as the party of “save, save, save” while Labour is renowned as the party of “spend, spend spend”.

However, the dichotomy is always the same. Savings always have to be made which hurt the general public, but preserve the wealthy, their incomes and their lavish lifestyles.

Lord Hutton’s pension recommendations are set to cause another period of bitter unrest (Yorkshire Post, March 11) with the unions who are promising militant action.

It is one thing tackling the £32bn public sector pensions bill and another tackling the law on the subject. Public sector workers fought for and won a “precious” contract guaranteeing their salaries and, in particular, their pensions.

The private sector have only themselves to blame for not fighting to win similar conditions of service, which Lord Hutton hopes to undermine.

The public sector unions are united in their opposition to his “recommendations” and many public sector unions are now bracing themselves for strikes and industrial action this summer.

This contract, which the public sector won by negotiation, is a vital piece of our democracy. The unions would, if threatened, take their case to the European Court, and I’m certain they would win the case.

The Government may try to change the law, but a “contract is a contract”. To expect public workers to pay more, work longer and get less at the end of their working lives will provoke a hostile response.

The private sector may grumble and moan but they should have fought for better pensions.

From: M Burrows, Airmyn Road, Goole.

IT would seem that the coalition Government has reneged on its manifesto statement.

They said that the Equitable Life pensioners that had taken out their pensions before the collapse of Equitable Life would receive the amount they had lost, as they had taken an annuity and were in it for life. The rest were able to transfer out into other pension funds. We now find out that 10,000 of us will receive not a penny because we took our pensions before 1992. This is neither fair or equitable. If there is not enough money to give every pensioner the full amount, it should be divided equally between all concerned.

From: Sam Flint, Yeadon, Leeds.

THANK you for pointing out the contribution being made to pensions by Iain Duncan Smith and Lord Hutton (Yorkshire Post, March 9).

At least we have two politicians who are committed to addressing the challenges facing public and private sector pensions rather than fobbing off the public.

It would be nice to see more politicians working together on a cross-party basis.