After I got home I learned that PCS have called a further day of industrial action next week and we will have to get all that info out to the members tomorrow.  An activists work is never done.

What I need is some I need is a nice relaxing walk in the park, but for now I will have to make do with some photographs.

Looking windswept in London

The stalwarts got up early to man the picket lines again.  The temperature was only -1 today but it still felt rather chilly until the sun came out. We shared this duty with another department that occupies the building with us. Some of their colleagues very kindly brought hot coffee and biscuits out for us, which was very welcome To warm up at the end of our duty we visited the local all day breakfast establishment where I had a tasty bacon buttie and a welcome cup of tea.

Mark Serwotka, General Secretary commenting in the latest edition of PCS view:

In 1987, Margaret Thatcher - who made huge cuts in the civil service - approved the current terms of our compensation scheme. If it was a fair scheme then, why does the present Labour government tell us that it is not fair now for the people who, for years, have suffered low pay on the basis that they have secure jobs?

The answer seems to lie in the fact that Gordon Brown believes it would be wrong to take parliamentary action to curb bankers’ bonuses because they are a contractual right, but it is apparently all right for the contractual rights of civil and public servants to be ripped up to save money.

Gus O’Donnell has written to civil servants to tell them the cuts are ‘fair and reasonable’ and concessions have been made to the low paid. But almost half of PCS members would be worse off, in some cases by tens of thousands of pounds. PCS does not accept that this is a fair and reasonable way to save money to pay for a financial crisis caused by the greed and stupidity of the banks.

Mr O’Donnell was quick to tell us that other unions have accepted the fairness of the proposals. It is disappointing that some unions have accepted cuts in their members’ entitlements and allowed themselves to be cited by him in his demand that PCS members should ‘think hard about how to vote’ in the ballot. But that is for them. PCS represents almost three times the number of civil and public servants than the other unions combined.

PCS cannot accept changes to the scheme which would leave almost half of our union suffering a detriment. We must be united to win protection for the other half. An agreement with the government which saves money and protects all members’ existing entitlements is affordable and possible.

Taking industrial action is never an easy decision to take but this national ballot is the most important one for PCS members in years.

The political parties are all talking about massive public spending cuts after the next general election. The government’s changes to the compensation scheme are clearly designed to make it cheaper and easier to cut and privatise our jobs, whether by a Labour or Tory government.

We must build the pressure on the government to reach an agreement which is truly fair to its own employees.

The updated photo gallery of picket lines in Shropshire can be found here.

Hundreds of civil servants across Shropshire launched a 48-hour strike joining the 270,000 that are expected to strike around the country in a row over redundancy pay. This is the biggest walk out of civil servants since 1987. We received welcome support from passing motorists and colleagues from other Trade Unions.

We are taking action because the Government have scrapped the old terms and conditions of the Civil Service Compensation Scheme and, after several months negotiating with Trade Unions, decided to impose new terms without mutual agreement. The PCS Union is seeking to get back to the negotiating table and come to a mutually agreeable set of terms and conditions.

After manning picket lines I met up with other Shropshire activists to attended a march and rally in Birmingham along with around 200 other people from across the Midlands region. The rally was addressed by the Midlands Regional Chairman, Tony Conway, the PCS Assistant Secretary, Chris Baugh, and speakers from Amicus, NUT and the FBU, who generously presented us with a donation of £1000 towards the hardship fund.

After the rally there was time for a relaxing drink with friends and colleagues before heading home for a well earned rest.

Related links:

Shropshire Star Front Page

Shropshire Star - Workers Walk Out

Picket Lines Photo Gallery

Birmingham March & Rally Photo Gallery

MYTH # 4. Most public sector workers retire at 60 on two thirds of their final salary

REALITY: The majority of workers joining public sector pension schemes will retire and claim their pension at the age of 65.

What are the Facts?

Many reports about pensions would lead you to believe that most public sector workers retire at the age of 60 on two-thirds salary, but in fact this only applies to the very few people who work in public service for forty years or more. The pension age for many public sector workers has always been 65 and this now applies to most new joiners.

The average pension in Local Government is around just £4,000 per year, and just £2,000 for women while in the Civil Service the average is £6,500. The average pension for a female NHS worker is £5,000 but the median pension for women is much less. In fact half of all women pensioners who have worked in the NHS get a pension of less than £3,500 per year.

Franklin D. Roosevelt

MYTH # 3. The discrepancy between private and public sector pensions needs to be tackled by punishing the public sector

REALITY. We should level up pensions - not level them down

What are the Facts?

Many justify attacks on public sector pensions by the decline in the number and quality of private sector defined benefit pension schemes.

Around 85% of public sector employees are members of an employer-sponsored pension scheme, most of whom have a Defined Benefit scheme. However, in the private sector 40% of employees are members of an employer-sponsored pension scheme but only 15% of employees are active members of a Defined Benefit scheme.

Private sector employees have been hit hard by the employer retreat from good pensions. But this does not justify punishing public sector workers. Two wrongs do not make a right.

Public sector pensions support lower-paid members of the workforce. Well-paid private sector employees are likely to get a decent pension on top of their pay. The real difference between public and private sectors is among the low and average paid. The attack on public sector pensions may be wrapped up in rhetoric about fat-cat public servants, but it is really an attack on the low paid in the public sector. Only 20% of private sector employees who earn between £100 and £200 a week are members of an employer-sponsored pension scheme whereas 70% of public sector employees in the same pay range are pension scheme members.

The recent economic turmoil has had a huge impact on private sector DB and DC schemes. Savers in DC schemes have seen the value of pension pots plummet, while the private employer sponsors of DB schemes now have to make up the deficits. Unfunded public sector schemes have not been hit by market turbulence. Tax payers have not suddenly had to find funds to make up scheme deficits, and government can plan for the future funding of public sector pensions.

Private sector schemes need to be funded because there can be no guarantee that the sponsoring employer will still be around when staff retire. Public sector employers, ie the state, will exist in perpetuity and, as in other countries such as the USA, we tend to have unfunded pensions for central government functions such as health and the armed forces but funded schemes in local government.

To protect future pensions, private sector schemes (and funded public sector schemes) are regulated to ensure they have sufficient funds to meet their future commitments. But this tends to be on a cautious basis and deal with stock market volatility thus pushing up private sector pension costs. Funded public sector schemes can plot a more stable long term course. All schemes have to deal with issues such as increased life expectancy. The public sector has done this with the cost-sharing agreements backed up with a ceiling on employer costs described above.

As public sector schemes operate on a sustainable basis and employer contributions are capped, there is no financial justification to reduce benefit levels simply because employers have savaged private sector schemes.

Just how generous are public sector pensions?

Five million employees working in the public sector qualify for pensions, including 1.3m in NHS, 1.6m in local government, 600,000 teachers, 600,000 civil servants, 200,000 in the armed forces, 150,000 police officers and 50,000 firefighters.

The mean average public sector pension is £7,000 but the majority of public sector pensioners have pensions of less than £5,000.

The value of the main schemes in the public sector for new entrants are similar to a medium private sector final salary, at around 21% to 24% of salary on average.

Index - Media myths about civil and public services.

A rooftop in Brussels or to be more precise part of the statue that adorns the top of the triumphal arch which is the centrepiece of the Cinquantenaire.

For more of this weeks PhotoHunt pictures check out tnchick.

Lunchtime was a Faulty Towers-like experience where we didn’t quite manage to grab a late breakfast.  We were told that they didn’t do food (not even breakfast) until after 12 O’clock but when we tried again after 12 they said they didn’t do breakfast because it was after 12!!!  We all rethought our choices and placed our orders. We were then informed we would have to eat upstairs because the lift wasn’t working. Our food arrived late and was cold and not completely as ordered but due to the tight time schedule we had to go along with it, although we did get free coffees all round.

I missed part of the initial PCS briefing at Parliament because the PCS President asked me to help the PCS national press officer so I will hand you over to my colleague who was present at the meeting to give a full account and how the MPs that we lobbied were very supportive of our action to achieve a negotiated settlement on the Civil Service Compensation Scheme.

Yesterday around 100 representatives of PCS, including a strong delegation from Shropshire, and from across the UK descended on Parliament to lobby MPs over cuts to the redundancy terms for civil and public servants. The lobby and rally come as a quarter of a million civil and public servants gear up for a 48 hour stoppage on 8 and 9 March over the unilateral changes, which will see staff robbed of up to a third of their entitlements and see loyal civil and public servants lose tens of thousands of pounds if they are forced out of their job. Indeed our colleagues in RAF Cosford are still in scope of DTR and if they do not want to move to St Athans will be offered a worse redundancy package should these changes to the scheme take place. PCS have made it clear that there is still time for the Government to negotiate a fair settlement on this issue and Mark Serwotka wrote to the Minister on Monday asking for further meetings and if necessary to go to ACAS. To date the Minister Tessa Jowell has not responded.

Political pressure is mounting over the forced changes, with 155 MPs and former ministers signing an early day motion (EDM) urging the government to re-examine the ‘disappointing and unfair proposals’. I am pleased to announce that MP Mark Pritchard became the first MP in Shropshire to sign the EDM after our meeting with him yesterday. Additionally MP David Wright has now written a letter to the Minister on our behalf and MP Daniel Kawczynski is writing a letter to the Minister and putting down a written question in the House of Commons on our behalf after our meeting with them yesterday. All 3 local MPs agreed with the fact that they want to see a negotiated settlement and support PCS in calling for a negotiated settlement.

The Judicial Review is being stalled by Treasury Barristers not being available in March to appear in the High Court and many MP’s are now taking this up with the Minister since they believe this to be another key way to stop retrospective changes to our terms and conditions.

Mark Serwotka, PCS general secretary, said: “It is disgraceful that the government has denied MPs a vote on these changes which are aimed at cutting jobs on the cheap. Instead the government has relied on an arcane parliamentary procedure to avoid any debate, discussion or vote to change the law. “It is clear that political pressure is growing with MPs and former ministers signing an early day motion that urges the government to re-examine the ‘disappointing and unfair proposals’.

Over 150 MPs recognise that the government should be protecting those who have given loyal service over a number of years rather than slashing their redundancy entitlements and cutting their jobs on the cheap. The government needs to pay heed to growing opposition from MPs and reach a negotiated settlement.”

Next Tuesday the Welsh Assembly is being closed since Labour Welsh Assembly Members have voted not to cross the PCS Picket Line!

This is a fight that we can and must win and it is important to show the Government that we are prepared to take a stance against retrospective changes to our terms and conditions.

Freedom is important to include in my ‘100 Reasons to be Glad’ because there isn’t a single day goes by that I am not reminded that our freedoms are constantly being eroded away.

Freedom

I WILL not follow you, my bird,
I will not follow you.
I would not breathe a word, my bird,
To bring thee here anew.

I love the free in thee, my bird,
The lure of freedom drew;
The light you fly toward, my bird,
I fly with thee unto.

And there we yet will meet, my bird,
Though far I go from you
Where in the light outpoured, my bird,
Are love and freedom too.

by George William Russell