Print this page(As Quarriers is not part of the Local Government Pension scheme or the NHS Pension Scheme we will not be part of this campaign. - this is for information only)
Community e-news – special edition
Protect our pensions
October 2011
UNISON’s e-mail newsletter for the Community service group
In this edition: information on how Community members and stewards can get involved in the public sector pensions campaign, and resources to help you, including a ‘Vote yes’ leaflet aimed specifically at Community members.
For further information on UNISON’s work in the Community service group, visit the website: www.unison.org.uk/community
For all the latest news about the pensions campaign, and a range of campaign materials, go to http://www.unison.org.uk/pensions/protectour.asp
Protect our pensions - vote YES
UNISON is asking its members to vote YES in the ballot for industrial action to protect public sector pensions.
Current proposals mean that most people will pay more and work longer to get a pension that will be worth less.
UNISON has tried to negotiate in good faith for secure and affordable pensions - but ministers won't listen.
We are balloting for strike action initially to start on 30 November. We are also working with other trade unions and community groups to organise local and national protests in support of public sector pensions.
We need a big YES vote and a high turnout to send a clear and united message to ministers that "enough is enough", that will help persuade them to withdraw their current unfair and unjustified attacks on pensions.
The ballot opens on 11 October and closes on 3 November.
You will be receiving your ballot paper from 11 October onwards - be sure to fill it in and return it as soon as you get it. If employers is part of the dispute, but you do not receive your ballot paper, you should call the ballot helpline, 0845 355 0845, from 17th October onwards (the helpline will be open from 17th to 31st October).
Please spread the word so that your colleagues in UNISON vote YES in the ballot.
Please vote YES to protect your pension.
Queries about the pensions dispute - pensionsdispute@unison.co.uk.
Protect our pensions – Community service group members
The pensions dispute affects thousands of UNISON members in community and voluntary organisations and housing associations – the UNISON members who make up our Community service group. This is about your future, and the sort of life you want when you stop working.
Hundreds of employers outside the public sector participate in the Local Government and NHS Pension Schemes. When a public service is outsourced to the voluntary sector, the new employer has to provide a broadly comparable pension for employees who they take on from the public sector. Many employers fulfil this responsibility by participating in the Local Government or NHS Pension Schemes.
This means that many Community service group members, while working for a housing association or a community and voluntary organisation, are still in one of those public sector pension schemes. They make contributions just like everyone else, and they are subject in the same way to the changes that ministers are proposing to make to the schemes.
The proposals will mean those members will pay more for their pension, if they earn more than £15,000 a year. Most of you will work much longer. And changes already imposed mean your pension is already worth less and you will receive less when you retire.
Not a penny of this major increase in your contributions will go towards improving your pension scheme. Instead it will go to the Treasury to pay for the excesses of the bankers.
The proposed changes will harm Community members just as much as those in the public sector, and we say enough is enough.
Aside from this dispute, some changes have already been imposed: the value of public sector pensions will be uprated by the CPI measure of inflation, rather than the RPI. This will mean your pension is already worth less and you will receive less when you retire.
UNISON is therefore balloting thousands of members in voluntary sector employers and housing associations, so that you too can have your say, vote YES, and make it clear to ministers that you will not accept what they’re proposing to do.
Vote YES – you can’t afford to do anything else.
Get involved in the campaign
It is vital that stewards, workplace contacts and members get involved in the campaign, to encourage members to vote yes. This is particularly important among our community and voluntary and housing association members, many of whom may not realise how the pensions dispute affects them as well. So it’s important that we spread the word.
UNISON has produced a leaflet aimed specifically at our Community members. You can view the leaflet here: http://www.unison.org.uk/acrobat/20414.pdf
We should also be recruiting new members while we campaign on the pensions dispute. There is a membership form which also gives information about the pensions campaign: http://www.unison.org.uk/acrobat/20333.pdf
