Bevan looks down on the Unison Pensioners

I THOUGHT NOTHING SUPRISES ME – BUT I WAS WRONG. !!!  

says Bob Coote, back from Cardiff.

So, year by year we trail around this green and pleasant land in pursuit of the annual retired member’s conference, so you would not think there could be a real surprise in store, within the confines of debate there.

WRONG.  It would appear that there is an ‘authority’ up there in Cumbria someplace who has decided that all payments of rent and council tax etc will rule out payments in cash to their various offices and fiancé department – any, and all payments must be by credit card / internet banking or cheque.  

And so we have a citizen who has no, and wants no, bank account, who is turning up regularly at the councils offices to pay his council tax and rent (in cash) and being turned away !

Not only turned away time after time, but is now the subject of a summons to appear in court for non payment…….

The fair – and new – City of Cardiff was the venue for this years annual conference, and accordingly we were hosted in the prestigious City Hall where most of the 340 budgeted delegates filed in for a wide ranging set of well attended  ‘workshop’ sessions. These took in subjects such as eligibility for benefits / The Unison public transport charter / Legal services from Unison / The right to care – and long term care of the elderly / Pensions and the latest developments in our old age pensions with regard to the ‘Protect our pensions’ campaign, and Elder abuse.

Within these vital workshop sessions, policies are explained, future strategy discussed, details of the subject fiercely debated for future digestion at headquarters, this takes up the whole of the afternoon session. Following this there were various regional meetings at differing times and I found myself back for another hour for the Greater London Region session starting at 7 pm. This was to consider, discuss and prepare for all the London region motions which would come up the following day.

Even later that night, for those braving the teeming rain there was an evening social with music for dancing in the Glenn Miller and 50s / 60s big band style, which was much appreciated and applauded.

The main conference session being held on the Wednesday, was welcomed by the Cardiff mayor of course, and we soon got down to the business of the day, and with thirty motions on the agenda the debating went along at a cracking pace.

There were of course the ‘routine’ restoration of the value of the state pension, tied in with the high costs imposed by the utilities in recent months, requests for the retired section to work with and alongside the Unison Labour link to promote vital objectives important to pensioners.

There was a call for the implementation of the new NPC Pensioners charter of rights to be the first steps towards a charter of rights in law for all citizens of pensionable age – a most deserving cause with the £25 billion surplus in the National Insurance fund ring fenced, and the suspicion that better pensions are no longer a question of monies, but a lack of political will on the part of the Government.

There was a motion on Elder abuse, where it became clear there were wide ranging (to the tune of half a million) examples of elder abuse on record – being in the form of sexual, physical and financial abuse, neglect and over-medication. Protective legislation through various channels was being sought to deal with this matter.

Conference was against the new ID cards, guarding against a free for all when the council tax revaluation of properties takes place, there was a call for the discrimination between the fine line of personal and nursing care to be removed.

General topics included matters pertaining to the free travel pass due in 2006 and its great shortcomings,  the variable costs to the aged for the planned cessation of analogue TV which are generally not realised as yet,

One great debate was that of ageism existing in holiday insurance, and insurances in general. Our own UIA management no longer offer annual insurance to those over 65, but only over inflated rates for individual trips.  Conference noted the upcoming EU directive on ageism to be implemented in 2006, and sought to combine and co-operate with other pensioner’s organizations to expose this practice and secure non-discriminatory terms in future. Calls for the Retired Members committee to make the strongest representations to our own UIA insurance arm for more favourable terms for the ‘oldies’

Having been asked to nominate four of the days motions, as usual,  to go forward to the National Conference next year for wider consideration and support,  it was rather alarming and upsetting to realise that last years four nominated motions from our venue put to the National conference agenda got “talked out” of the agenda and received no airing whatsoever.

This is particularly demoralising for the pensioner delegates who put in so much effort and time to debate and formulate these items for the attention of our ‘National’ brothers – all of whom will be old themselves one day !

The conference was wound up with a surprise presentation to Sylvia Green, hardworking and long standing Chairman of the Retired members committee, who was now taking her ‘second retirement’ and relinquishing her position with Unison retired section.