Level workers' pensions up - not down
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Catriona Beveridge
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By Kate Ramsden
The State Pension is a right not a
benefit and should be an entitlement for older people.
The STUC called on the government
to restore the earnings or prices link, ensure the
pension is universal and is raised above the poverty
level.
It also condemned attacks on occupational
pensions and demanded that these are safeguarded.
Supporting the motion, UNISON's Catriona
Beveridge told delegates that we, in the public
sector, have been accused of having 'gold-plated'
pensions.
"How would we define that?" asked Catriona.
"Would it be £750,000 a year or whatever
Fred Goodwin's pension is? Or would it be £3,800
a year? Because that's the actual level of the
average pension for local government workers in
Britain."
"It's more tin-foil that gold-plated",
she said.
Catriona slammed the myths peddled by the Daily
Mail and the Taxpayers Alliance and pointed out
that the real pensions divide is not between the
private and the public sector but between the
rich and the poor.
"Real gold-plate is to be found on the pensions
that directors in the private sector award themselves
- often when running down their own staff schemes.
"It is a disgrace that anyone should be
left to face poverty after a lifetime's work",
declared Catriona, calling for every worker to
have access to a fair and decent pension scheme.
"We should be levelling up - not down",
she warned.
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