Retiring? - It’s a battlefield out there!
- So says Bob Coote our retired members Secretary.
You - in the army of workers, and Unison activists looking over the supposed green pastures of retirement, lurk a while at the five bar gate of that great open pasture and consider this. Your battles with Governments of all persuasions are not over.
You will find as you enter our green fields that your pension will be a statuary £84.25 a week (single working man rate) as from April 10, taking in this years insulting ‘rise’ of just £2.20.
Working in a busy life the last couple of decades, you will be forgiven for knowing the sad tale that unfolded along the way in the last twenty five years.
It was that ‘nice’ Mrs Thatcher who turned things belly up for us all in promoting and introducing the break in the link between the pension rate and the workforce average earnings back in 1980. Also the refusal of New Labour to restore this calculator since taking office. A recent written parliamentary answer reveals that the pensioner is now £52.50 a week worse off than they would have been if this link was not broken, and furthermore it cost us £33 a week under the Conservative administration and gone on to cost us a further £19.50 weekly by virtue of New Labour refusing to restore this ‘link’ to us. So – here we are in 2005, with that £2.20 pat on the head, and told to go relax in our good fortunes.
All this time then the Government are sitting on the funds that are ring fenced for use by the pensioners needs. This amount swilling in the coffers of the National Insurance fund stands at £34.6 billion today and will swell out to £60bn in the year 2010, with interest incurred.
Clearly the present Government is well able to afford our oldies a weekly payment of £114.05 – a reasonable and carefully considered figure arrived at by the National Pensioners Convention – the promoters of the ‘Pensioners Parliament’ and the largest and most active umbrella organization representing us eleven million folk who have long since given up the daily grind of employment.
Alongside these problem times of working pensions – you will find your older brethren taking part in a week of action, calling among other things for a reasonable pension of £114.05 a week immediately.
March 11 – 18 sees a nationwide week of campaigning activity and protest, with regional protests seeking to influence Government thinking in the run up to the publishing of the White paper on pension reform later this spring. This will serve to focus the totally inadequate rates to millions of pensioners especially including many women who struggle to cope with rising bills and the rise in the cost of living.
Our 2005 ‘throw away’ rise of £2.20 no way bears any relation to rising costs of fuel, water and the ever rising Council tax rates.
When you finally join us on our side of the green fields – be aware that we just cannot hang around for more enquiries and lengthy reports – we want something done NOW.
I invite you to Join us in our ‘shout’
14th March 2006
