Reforms to public sector pensions are likely trigger widespread strike action.
Labour peer Lord Hutton (pictured), who is reviewing public sector pensions for the Coalition, will publish his final report on Thursday which will recommend that public sector workers should lose their “gold-plated” final salary pensions and have schemes linked to average earnings instead.
Unions representing over a million public sector employees reacted angrily to the report and warned of co-ordinated industrial action by council workers, NHS staff and civil servants.
Dave Prentis, general secretary of Unison, “This will be just one more attack on innocent public sector workers who are being expected to pay the price of the deficit, while the bankers who caused it continue to enjoy bumper pay and bonuses.”
“On top of a pay freeze, and the threat of redundancy, they now face a pensions raid. This brings the threat of industrial action closer.”
Bob Crow, RMT union leader, said: “It is clear from all the signals that from nurses to transport staff, the Government intend to make staff work longer, pay more and get less.”
“There is no question that this is the issue where coordinated strike action is on the cards as we fight to stop the ConDem pensions robbery.”
Hutton claims that the current system is unsustainable long term.
“These proposals aim to strike a balanced deal between public service workers and the taxpayer. They will ensure that public service workers continue to have access to good pensions, while taxpayers benefit from greater control over their costs,” he said.
In the past Hutton called the existing schemes “fundamentally unfair” compared with private sector schemes.
