Fundamentally Dishonest
John Hutton - the former Labour pensions minister - has accused Britain's union bosses of 'fundamental dishonesty' over claims about his report into public sector pension reform.
The Labour peer was responding to union propaganda about the future cost of public sector pensions - and how the costs should be shared between employees and the public purse.
Key proposals include replacing 'final salary pensions' with 'career average' schemes - and protecting the lower paid in terms of planned increases in pension contriobutions.
But the unions have been arguing that the present system 'ain't broke - and doesn't need fixed' - that everything's just fine and dandy - thank you very much.
John Hutton responded by saying:
'It’s fundamentally dishonest for people (the unions) to cite those figures and reach the conclusion in my report that everything is fine.'
Now this is just a foretaste of what's about to come - as the big three unions (GMB, Unison and Unite) try to persuade members to vote for a campaign of strike action - later this year.
But to my mind any industrial action that is based on retaining 'final salary' pensions - is bound to fail.
Because it's not just fundamentally dishonest - it's also fundamentally unfair to the lower paid.
The Labour peer was responding to union propaganda about the future cost of public sector pensions - and how the costs should be shared between employees and the public purse.
Key proposals include replacing 'final salary pensions' with 'career average' schemes - and protecting the lower paid in terms of planned increases in pension contriobutions.
But the unions have been arguing that the present system 'ain't broke - and doesn't need fixed' - that everything's just fine and dandy - thank you very much.
John Hutton responded by saying:
'It’s fundamentally dishonest for people (the unions) to cite those figures and reach the conclusion in my report that everything is fine.'
Now this is just a foretaste of what's about to come - as the big three unions (GMB, Unison and Unite) try to persuade members to vote for a campaign of strike action - later this year.
But to my mind any industrial action that is based on retaining 'final salary' pensions - is bound to fail.
Because it's not just fundamentally dishonest - it's also fundamentally unfair to the lower paid.
