Up to one in five people in Britain will be affected by the Government’s raid on public sector pensions, according to Unite.
The union, Britain’s largest, said 12 million of the country’s 62 million people either draw a pension after working in public services, are actively paying into schemes, or have moved to the private or not-for profit sectors after previously contributing to a public sector pension.
Unite assistant general secretary Gail Cartmail said: “One in five people in the UK have a stake in a public sector pension. Everyone will know someone who will suffer because of the Government’s plans, unless we stand up and defend public sector pensions.
“We are urging public sector workers to vote ‘yes’ for action for November 30 to defend their pension.
“We are doing our best to reach an agreement with the government, but it is refusing to negotiate meaningfully on any reasonable compromises.
The union last month the union started others issuing voting papers to approximately 160,000 public sector workers to take part in the November 30 day of action. The ballot will close on Wednesday November 16.
The co-ordinated action – involving 18 unions – is expected to see as many as two million workers walk out on the day.
If the unions do achieve such a turn-out it will be the largest such display of worker discontent since the 1926 General Strike when three million protested.
The union says the Government plans will see public sector workers having to pay 50 per cent more into their pension schemes to earn a pension in the future which will be worth 50 per cent less and for which they will have to work for much longer.
Unite has produced data that shows public sector pensions pay, on average, less than £5,600 a year but half of all women working in the public sector retire on a pension of less than £4,000 a year.
Meanwhile, reports suggested that Government ministers – whom unions have accused of not actually negotiating but merely restating their stance – are quietly waiting for a large public sector employer to seek an injunction against its employees taking part in the November 30 walkout.
The justification for the attempted legal block would be that it is a concerted, politically motivated action and therefore unlawful.
Workers as diverse as teachers, civil servants, health workers, refuse collectors and gravediggers are set to walk out.
An injunction could be sought against one union or all of them. But the TUC and individual unions say they are sanguine about any threatened legal challenge on such grounds as the strike clearly falls within the scope of a legitimate trade dispute.
