We are waiting for the
promised wave of public service strikes to hit the UK with a pronounced feeling
of déjà vu.
Ed Balls is right. It is a
trap set by the Tories. Handled properly it could be a case of ‘With one bound
Dave was free’. Maybe I am over-optimistic about the Government’s backbone and
cunning but if they play it right they could do for the public service unions
what Maggie did to the miners. In retrospect it is perfectly obvious that the
Tories had long-laid plans to smash the NUM. They had stockpiled huge
quantities of coal to ensure that there was no repetition of the 3-day week.
And a consequence of joining the EEC was that cheap coal from Europe was
readily available. Scargill fell straight into the trap.
The NUM dared not have a
ballot because it was obvious that a majority of miners wanted to work and
negotiate. This time there was a ballot; a majority of those voting are in
favour of strike action but only a minority voted. Solidarity seems to be
missing so far.
Some of the issues appear to
verge on absurdity.
Of course the retirement age
must be raised. When state pensions were introduced in Edwardian times the life
expectancy of a male was about 48. It is now 78. And public service pensions
are inflation-proofed. Like the miners, the Unions are asking for the
impossible; the money simply isn’t there. There are too many Golden Oldies like
us around and more of us every year.
Their pensions are based on
80ths, so that a full half-pay pension is available after 40 years service.
There is also a provision for up to ten added years in appropriate cases such
as redundancy or forced early retirement. This means that it would be possible
to take a deferred pension at age 46, although the pension could not be drawn
until age 50. In the 80s and 90s it was very common practice for public
servants to retire well before 65. Pension schemes were very well funded. Mine
required a contribution from the employee of 8.5% whereas the employers’
contribution was tiny because the funds were very well managed. And they
enjoyed very good tax breaks. Gordon
Brown put paid to that and neither the pension funds nor the Stock Market have
ever recovered.
Of course, the politicians
might be more credible were it not for the fact that their pension benefits are
exactly double; they are calculated on 40ths, not 80ths.
Ed Milliband is between the
upper and nether millstone. Because of the eccentricities of the Labour Party’s
voting system, David Milliband won the
first ballot but Ed won when the union vote was added. So he is hostage to the
unions, leaving Ed Balls, his great rival and possible successor to make all
the running. Ed Balls can play the sagacious statesman and advise the unions
not to take the bait, and reap his reward when the unions ignore him and come
to grief. If the unions win because Dave loses his nerve, Ed Balls wins again.
It’s all Balls right now.
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