So admittedly, being a housewife, I don't belong to a Union...or have a pension..or well ..a wage. But that did not stop me striking on 30 November! Nor did the stinking cold that started the Sunday before - although it brought me to a crashing halt after 30 November! The husband, for his sins, has a vocation to teach - it's inconvenient and it will keep us poor but, as someone who never found their passion in a work sense, I do envy him his dedication. I don't think this is enough of a bonus for the government to shit on him from a great height though and it is my pension too, so I was happy to join in on the 30th.
He is getting a huge pay cut in February as it is (although, on the bright side, that will reduce how much his pension contributions are increased!) Now, when I did work, I was actually a pension specialist, so this is an area that I am familiar with. The last Labour government were responsible for killing the defined benefit scheme in the private sector, in an act of myopic stupidity that still leaves me frothing at the mouth. Not only did it deprive thousands and thousands of people of benefits in retirement (which will only have to be topped up by Welfare Benefits) but it destroyed the major source of long term investment, damaging the economy and I believe, contributing to the current economic crisis.
On 30 November, I was on the picket line at 8 am, then there was a march though the town where we live. About 1500 people marched - pretty impressive - culminating in speeches that stressed the need to raise the benefits for the private sector, not just use their inadequate benefit levels to decrease the public sector ones. I thoroughly enjoyed the day, even if it did worsen my cold into an illness that persisted for 2 weeks and even though I have the feeling we will not win, even though we should.
Cutting pensions to solve a short term or even medium term economic problem is a huge mistake. Pensions are the stew of benefits - they need to simmer for years, even decades to be effective and the cuts this government propose will not provide that much relief in the short term - commitments have already been made to pensioners - but it will irreparably damage the ability of many to retire on any kind of meaningful income in the medium and long term. And who will foot the massive benefit bill then?
