Defending the Indefensible
Head and deputy head schoolteachers in Scotland are to be balloted on industrial action apparently - over the proposed changes to public sector pension schemes.
The Association of Headteachers and Deputes in Scotland (AHDS) announced its decision last week - and 1,400 members will now be asked if they are prepared to take strike action.
But exactly what they are being asked to strike for - remains unclear.
If they are being encouraged to strike in defence of their final salary pensions schemes - then these union members are trying to defend the indefensible.
Because head and deputy head teachers normally earn their 'final salaries' - towards the end of their teaching careers.
In some cases only the last few years - of a 30 or 40 years spent as a classroom teacher.
So why should their pension and lump sum be based on their final salary - when it is artificially boosted in this way?
Because what is really happening here is that other council employees - much lower paid staff - are subsidising the pension arrangements of the highest paid people in the school - the head and deputy head teacher.
School cleaners, school meals workers, school janitors and classroom assistants - don't benefit from these arrangements - because these jobs are all on fixed salaries.
The government is proposing that in future all public sector pensions - are paid on the basis of 'career average' earnings.
So that what people get out at the end - is based on what they've paid in - over the course of their working lives.
Which is fair, sensible and entirely reasonable.
The Association of Headteachers and Deputes in Scotland (AHDS) announced its decision last week - and 1,400 members will now be asked if they are prepared to take strike action.
But exactly what they are being asked to strike for - remains unclear.
If they are being encouraged to strike in defence of their final salary pensions schemes - then these union members are trying to defend the indefensible.
Because head and deputy head teachers normally earn their 'final salaries' - towards the end of their teaching careers.
In some cases only the last few years - of a 30 or 40 years spent as a classroom teacher.
So why should their pension and lump sum be based on their final salary - when it is artificially boosted in this way?
Because what is really happening here is that other council employees - much lower paid staff - are subsidising the pension arrangements of the highest paid people in the school - the head and deputy head teacher.
School cleaners, school meals workers, school janitors and classroom assistants - don't benefit from these arrangements - because these jobs are all on fixed salaries.
The government is proposing that in future all public sector pensions - are paid on the basis of 'career average' earnings.
So that what people get out at the end - is based on what they've paid in - over the course of their working lives.
Which is fair, sensible and entirely reasonable.
