Sound of Silence
James Undy - writing in yesterday's Independent - has noticed an important delopment in the ongoing public sector pensions dispute - 'the sound of silence'.
Instead of calling more strikes the unions appear to be facing up to reality - and accepting the need for big changes.
For example, the trade union campaign to hold onto 'final salary' pension schemes - appears to be dead in the water - which is good news for low paid workers.
Here's what James Undy had to say.
Public sector pensions – a good day to bury good news
"I noted last week that the din of the Summer of Discontent had given way to the quiet sound of negotiation on public sector pensions.
Today comes a co-ordinated release by the Treasury and the Trades Union Congress of Danny Alexander’s letter to Brendan Barber setting out progress made and the next steps in the process.
While the TUC reserves its – and constituent unions’ – position on the proposals, this joint approach is not the choreography of irresolvable conflict. A key development set out in the Chief Secretary’s accompanying Written Ministerial Statement is that, as well as the already agreed zero contribution increase for employees paid under £15,000 a year, those paid up to £21,000 a year will now face no more than a total 1.5% contribution increase over the three years to 2014-15.
The focus will now shift to scheme-by-scheme negotiations, with an acceptance that the funded nature of the Local Government Pension Scheme “puts it in a different position” to the rest. With the TUC’s own conference coming up in September, there’s plenty of sabre-rattling still to come. But for public servants anxious to keep a decent defined benefit scheme without being dragged into a fractious and forlorn dispute, today might just hold some hopeful news."
Instead of calling more strikes the unions appear to be facing up to reality - and accepting the need for big changes.
For example, the trade union campaign to hold onto 'final salary' pension schemes - appears to be dead in the water - which is good news for low paid workers.
Here's what James Undy had to say.
Public sector pensions – a good day to bury good news
"I noted last week that the din of the Summer of Discontent had given way to the quiet sound of negotiation on public sector pensions.
Today comes a co-ordinated release by the Treasury and the Trades Union Congress of Danny Alexander’s letter to Brendan Barber setting out progress made and the next steps in the process.
While the TUC reserves its – and constituent unions’ – position on the proposals, this joint approach is not the choreography of irresolvable conflict. A key development set out in the Chief Secretary’s accompanying Written Ministerial Statement is that, as well as the already agreed zero contribution increase for employees paid under £15,000 a year, those paid up to £21,000 a year will now face no more than a total 1.5% contribution increase over the three years to 2014-15.
The focus will now shift to scheme-by-scheme negotiations, with an acceptance that the funded nature of the Local Government Pension Scheme “puts it in a different position” to the rest. With the TUC’s own conference coming up in September, there’s plenty of sabre-rattling still to come. But for public servants anxious to keep a decent defined benefit scheme without being dragged into a fractious and forlorn dispute, today might just hold some hopeful news."
