NHS and Teaching unions reject pension offers

Unite, who represent NHS staff, have rejected the latest pension offers from the government and have warned that further strikes may come about.

Unison, who also represent NHS workers, are due to meet soon to consider their position.

The NUT and NASUWUT, who represent teachers, have also refused to agree with government plans to change the NHS pension scheme and have called for further negotiations to discuss improvements that can be made to the offer.

The end of 2011 saw one of the biggest public sector strikes since the 1970s as workers walked out over proposed changes to their pension schemes. Unite have warned that industrial action could continue into the summer of the London Olympics if an agreements cannot be reached.

The proposed changes include raising the normal retirement age to fall in line with the plans for the state retirement age. This will steadily increase and eventually force people to work until 68 before being able to claim pensions.

NASUWUT, the NUT and Unite are all opposed to to the proposed change to the pension age, Unite in particular arguing that it could see nurses and paramedics having to do heavy lifting work into their late 60’s.

John Ralfe, a leading pensions consultant has recently argued that raising the public sector pension age will not actually make savings for the government. However, the government have questioned the assumptions in his study and say the change in pension age is needed as part of the whole measures of pension reforms which will save the taxpayers ‘billions’.

NASUWUT and the NUT are also opposed to the increase in contributions that public sector employees will have to find in order to fund their pensions.

The move from a final salary pension scheme to a career average pension scheme will see many workers get less money for their pension contributions. Unite have also raised concerns over how the pensions of those who take career breaks to raise a family will be affected.

The government have indicated their disappointment over union reactions. In December, they had thought that they finally obtained the support from the majority of the Unions, but now find that they face further demands. However, the Unions are committed to suspend any industrial action until the final details of the offer have been resolved.

Chris Keates, from NASUWT, said: “The process the Department for Education used to seek to reach agreement by its imposed deadline of 20 December was a debacle. Unions were pressurised and threatened to sign up to a document when a final draft was not even available, and even when a document was produced as the final meeting was breaking up, overnight the wording was changed unilaterally by the department.”

The news comes at the same time as a survey of 130,000 medical professionals by the British Medical Association (BMA). They are asking their members whether the government’s proposals are acceptable and have indicated that they could organise their first ballot on industrial action in over 30 years.