by Keith Richmond
Barclays workers will be lobbying the bank’s shareholders on Thursday as part of a serious dispute over pensions. The meeting has been called to get agreement to sell Barclays Global Investors to BlackRock, but Unite members will be carrying placards saying “Hands off our pensions” to highlight their anger at proposals by the firm to close their final salary pension scheme.
The union is balloting its members on whether they want to take industrial action to protect their pension entitlement. In a consultative ballot last month, 92 per cent asked to be balloted on industrial action.
Unite said: “Strike action could take place during the autumn. The industrial unrest would have a significant impact on the operations of Barclays and the service they can provide for their customers.”
The action comes at a time of mounting unrest over attacks on pensions. Brendan Barber, general secretary of the TUC, said this week: “Public sector pensions are under sustained attack. Hardly a day goes by without a claim from an employer group, opposition politician or right-wing pressure group that they are unaffordable, out of control and unreformed. They often go on to suggest that quick and easy savings can be made by cutting or changing pensions in the public sector. Public services provide the glue that holds a civilised society together.”
Mr Barber added, referring to the disparity between public and private sector pensions: “We should be levelling up, with decent pensions for all.”
