09.01.12
Further pension strikes considered
Pension reform resistance is increasing once more as health workers reject the Government’s final offer and some unions call for further industrial action.
The health union Unite has rejected the offer but is expected to seek the continuation of talks during a meeting of its public service executive this. No new strike dates have been set since the mass public sector walkouts on November 30.
Unite’s leader Len McCluskey said: “The Government’s attacks on public sector pensions are politically-motivated, as part of an overall design to privatise the NHS, cut public services, break up the national pay agreements, and disrupt legitimate trade union activities and organisation.”
A Department of Health spokesperson said Unite represented only 7% of the NHS workforce and added: “The decision by Unite and its members is disappointing. The proposed new NHS Pension Scheme is a good deal – it is fair to the NHS workforce, it is fair to the taxpayer and makes public service pensions affordable and sustainable.”
The BMA is surveying doctors and medical students to gather their opinion on the proposals, and suggested industrial action was a possible outcome.
Dr Hamish Meldrum, chairman of the BMA Council, said: “We want doctors and medical students to be fully aware of what's coming their way, and to have their say on what happens. Everyone will be affected, and it’s up to the whole medical profession to influence what we do next.Either way, the implications are huge. We face either major, damaging changes to our pensions, or the first ballot of doctors on industrial action since the 70s.”
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