A breakthrough in the negotiations between the joint unions
and local government employers at a UK level has lead to the suspension
of the UK-wide days of action on the 25-27 April, including the
Scottish Day of Action on 26 April.
UNISON's Industrial Action committee agreed to suspend the strike
action because the joint union/LGA statement provides a framework
for detailed negotiations on the future of the local government
pension scheme and full protection for existing scheme members.
Separate discussions are taking place in Scotland with the Scottish
Executive, the SPPA and CoSLA to build on this UK position and
resolve the matter here. Further information should be available
at the branches meeting on the 24 April.
Matt Smith, UNISON's Scottish Secretary said; "We welcome the
shift in the employer's position, and have suspended action to
allow progress in the talks in England, Scotland and Northern
Ireland. There is a lot of detailed work and negotiations to be
done over the coming weeks."
"The show of solidarity in the action on March 28 and the likelihood
of similar support in the forthcoming action on 26 April has achieved
this breakthrough. We trust that employers and government throughout
the UK will use this time to establish protection for LGPS members
that mirrors that received by other public sector workers.”
12 April 2006
Industrial action on pensions suspended
UNISON today agreed to recommend suspending planned industrial
action over pensions after the joint unions agreed a basis for
further talks with employers. The formal decision to suspend further
industrial action will be taken by the industrial action committee
on Thursday, but representatives of all service groups have agreed
the move.
General secretary Dave Prentis said: "The joint union/LGA statement
is a positive step and that is why we have decided to suspend
our planned strike action. It provides a framework to enable negotiations
to take place on the future of the local government pension scheme
and on protection arrangements. There is still a great deal of
work to do in the detailed negotiations over these complex issues
in a short time frame and we will be concentrating all our efforts
on achieving a satisfactory conclusion. "
The move follows a TUC-brokered joint statement with the Local
Government Association which commits both sides to: discussing
proper protection for current members of the LGPS pension scheme
if the Rule of 85 were to be abolished making 50% of the savings
available to pay for protections, and of savings from changes
to the commutation arrangements agreeing that changes in future
should be made by agreement where possible negotiating a fair
new-look scheme for the future.
The joint statement followed successful one-day national strike
action on 28 March.
Read the full joint statement
More Scottish news to follow on 13 April.
Scotland's
public service union 
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