Public sector workers back mass strike over pensions

 

Up to 750,000 public sector workers will hold a co-ordinated strike later this month after members of a third major union backed industrial action.

 

The PCS said its 290,000 members had to defend themselves against "attacks" on their pensions by the government. But the government said the 32.4% turnout showed there was "extremely limited support" for the action.

 

The civil servants will walk out on 30 June - the same days as hundreds of thousands of teachers and lecturers. The National Union of Teachers and the Association of Teachers and Lecturers have announced a nationwide walkout, affecting thousands of schools in England and Wales.

 

Alongside action from PCS members - who include court staff, immigration officers and air traffic controllers - it will be the biggest outbreak of industrial unrest in the public sector for many years. The PCS said 61.1% of those balloted voted in favour of strike action, while 83.6% backed action short of a strike.

 

General secretary Mark Serwotka said every person in the country would feel the effects of the strikes - and the month-long overtime ban that will follow. "Schools will be shut, jobcentres will be closed, driving licences wont be issued, queues will form at ports and airports," he said. Mr Serwotka said civil servants were being asked to work up to eight years longer and accept a three-fold rise in their contributions, while also seeing their eventual payments halved. "It's absolute daylight robbery. I don't think it's surprising that people will want to defend themselves and if you're going to defend yourselves it obviously makes sense that you make common cause with council workers, health workers and teachers because we all face the same attacks."

 

Mr Serwotka accused Cabinet Secretary Francis Maude of "deliberately trying to mislead people" about the size of an average public sector pension. Mr Maude said a worker on the median salary of £23,000 would have a pension pot of £500,000 - equivalent to about £15,000 a year - after 40 years' service.

 

But Mr Serwotka said the true average for low paid staff was £4,200 a year - "a poverty pension" - and Mr Maude's figures were based on an unreasonable life expectancy of 105 years. Further talks between the government and union leaders are scheduled for 27 June, but Mr Serwotka said negotiations so far had been "a farce".

 

"There is no indication whatsoever that the government is having any second thoughts," he said. "What they've told us is at every meeting is that they will not compromise."

 

He said he believed this would be the first co-ordinated strike of many, with anything up to four million workers potentially walking out in October if nothing was done. The largest civil service union, Unison, has already said it is also "going down the road to industrial action", and following the PCS vote, the Prison Officers Association said every one of its UK branches would hold protest meetings on 30 June as an act of solidarity.

 

Brendan Barber, leader of the TUC, told the BBC he was "going to see what happens with the talks" before deciding on the next step to take.

 

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-13772326

Why don't they just raise the taxes on the rich? I thought that solved everything.

 

Or they could print the money they need.

OMG the public sector workers want to protect their over the top pension package, the sort of package which the private sector could only dream off.

I'm all for unions but not the sort of petulance like this.

Post-crash economy 'faces seven lean years' warns Governor of the Bank of England

 

 

By Alex Brummer

 

Last updated at 12:44 AM on 16th June 2011

 

 

 

Warning: Sir Mervyn King said the post-crash economy faces 'seven lean years' in a lecture to bankers

 

Britain could be only halfway through ‘seven lean years’ before the economy returns to full health, Sir Mervyn King said last night.

But the Bank of England governor said the Government must not waver over tackling the huge budget deficit.

In a stern lecture at London’s Mansion House, he warned that the failures during ‘seven years of plenty’ before 2007 would threaten the economy until 2014.

But to the relief of consumers, he made clear that he is in no hurry to raise interest rates from the present 0.5 per cent to combat rampant inflation.

Sir Mervyn endorsed Chancellor George Osborne’s deficit reduction measures, appearing to dismiss Labour’s calls for a change of course. ‘Of course, there can always be differences of judgment about the overall stance of policy, but to change the broad policy mix would make little sense,’ he said.

But his remarks on interest rates put him at odds with hardliners on the rate-setting Monetary Policy Committee who are urging a rise.

‘We could have raised bank rates significantly so that inflation today would have been closer to the target,’ Sir Mervyn said.

But to do so ‘would have meant a weaker recovery and falls in output despite our having experienced the worst downturn in output since the Great Depression’.

 

He suggested that if rates had been raised, or were to be raised now, it would mean ‘higher unemployment and a greater erosion of living standards’. But he conceded that rates will need to rise at some point to ensure inflation comes down to the 2 per cent target.

 

 

Lecture: Sir Mervyn speaks at the Mansion House, where he made it clear there was no rush to rise interest rates from the current 0.5%

 

 

 

Listening in: Bankers and merchants were invited to attend to hear the two men speak

 

The Consumer Prices Index, the official measure of inflation, put it at 4.5 per cent last month. The Retail Prices Index, which includes housing costs, was running at 5.2 per cent.

 

Sir Mervyn said that so far the rise in prices for consumers and businesses was largely a result of global factors such as soaring oil and commodity prices, and this had not fed through to wages and domestically generated inflation.

Reforms: George Osborne unveiled details of changes to banking at the dinner, where his deficit reduction measures were backed by Sir Mervyn

 

However, he said, these commodity rises would continue to squeeze living standards.

He warned that the adjustment from the ‘great recession’ is far from over. The eurozone remains in deep crisis and the imbalances there ‘should concern us all and will certainly affect us all’, he said. ‘Failure to tackle the imbalances during the seven years of plenty before 2007 threatens the seven years thereafter for at least part of the global economy.’

A long-standing critic of bankers, he accused them of being ‘unfair’ to ‘millions of people now bearing the costs of the financial crisis’.

The bailouts in the autumn of 2008, when the government had to step in with almost a trillion pounds of help to prop up the banking system, could not happen again, he said.

His remarks on the positive impact of the Coalition’s austerity programme set him at odds with Labour’s Shadow Chancellor Ed Balls.

Mr Balls will use a speech today to insist that Mr Osborne must ‘change course’ on deficit reduction, claiming that the Government’s plans risk long-term damage to the economy.

When does the government normally come out with the raise in minimum wage amounts?

Unison general secretary Dave Prentis: "This is the fight of our lives...and we must win"

 

Unison public sector union leader issues 'call to arms'

 

The head of the UK's second largest union has issued a "call to arms" to his members over pension reforms. He told them to prepare for a campaign of strikes "without precedent".

 

"Every day we keep up the pressure, we wear them down, sap their strength and bring them closer to breaking point," said Dave Prentis, general secretary of the Unison union. Although he indicated his willingness to negotiate, he said they must "prepare for the worst".

 

"To those who say name the day, I say a day won't be enough, this coalition won't move with just one day of action," he said. "To those who say negotiate, I say any time, anywhere, for as long as it takes."

 

Negotiations with the government are set to resume on 27 June.

 

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-13841252

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CGi3MGRLPZo]YouTube - ‪Prentis: 'This is a call to arms'‬‏[/ame]

http://news.bbcimg.co.uk/media/images/53766000/jpg/_53766878_012125178-1.jpg

 

Some UK Border Agency staff are going on strike at sea ports and airports

 

Strikes among public sector workers begin

 

Some civil servants have begun industrial action as part of a strike involving hundreds of thousands in protest at changes to their pensions. Some UK Border Agency staff began strike action at 1800 BST.

 

About 600,000 teachers and civil servants are striking on Thursday over planned pension changes they say will mean working longer and paying more. Prime Minister David Cameron told MPs it was unfair of the strikers to cause problems for everyone. He said government plans were "fair to taxpayers" and the public sector. Four trade unions are taking part in strike action on Thursday.

 

Three are teaching unions - the National Union of Teachers (NUT), the Association of Association of Teachers and Lecturers (ATL) and the University and College Union (UCU).

 

They will be joined by the Public and Commercial Services Union (PCS) which has around 250,000 members. The government believes one in five of the nation's 500,000 civil servants will take strike action. Addressing Parliament during prime minister's questions, Mr Cameron said: "I don't believe there is any case for industrial action tomorrow, not least because talks are still on-going."

 

"It's only a minority of unions who have taken the decision to go ahead and strike."

 

The Minister for the Cabinet Office, Francis Maude, said: "Strike action is unnecessary and premature while discussions - set up at the request of the TUC - are ongoing. The majority of civil servants and teachers themselves did not vote for this action, showing how extremely limited support is for this strike. "We can assure the public that we have rigorous contingency plans in place to ensure that their essential services are maintained during the strike action on Thursday. We will do all we can to make sure it is business as usual tomorrow and that people can continue to claim their benefits, pay their pensions and access job centre websites."

 

Travellers have been warned to expect delays on arrival at UK ports and airports on Thursday. However, people leaving the UK will not be affected because departing passengers come into contact with security staff, employed by airport operator BAA, who will not be taking industrial action. BAA, which runs Heathrow, Stansted, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Aberdeen and Southampton airports, said: "UK Border Agency has now changed its advice to passengers and is no longer advising that those who can do so may wish to travel on other dates.

 

"We're disappointed that industrial action by PCS may lead to disruption for people arriving in the UK tomorrow."

 

The airport operator said the UK Border Agency had "introduced contingency plans to manage the situation".

 

A third of schools will be open, a third of schools with be partially effected and a third of schools will be closed, according to the BBC's political correspondent Ben Wright. This is because of 24-hour strike action by members of the National Union of Teachers (NUT) and the Association of Teachers and Lecturers (ATL).

 

Business leaders have warned of the impact of the walkout on the economy. The British Chambers of Commerce said many parents would lose pay for taking the day off work to look after their children, and productivity would be hit.

 

Labour leader Ed Miliband said the strikes would be a "mistake", and that both sides should get back round the negotiating table.

 

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-13967580

If public sector workers actually provide value to society, people will voluntarily trade money for their services. And they will no longer be "public". ;)

 

I wonder what Britain pays in interest on its national debt each year... Oh look:

 

http://www.debtbombshell.com/

 

As a result, in 2010 the interest on the national debt will cost £42.9 billion a year. That's more than we spend on defence, and not much less than the entire education budget.

 

Hm, maybe THAT'S where all your money is going? Interest to bankers!

 

Iceland had it right - default now, or forever be slaves to the banking elite. They will try to scare you with stories of chaos and starvation, but that's just a story to keep you paying for nothing. They provide nothing of value to society.

Lloyds Banking Group says it is to cut another 15,000 jobs by 2014 as part of the High Street bank's strategic review.

 

Lloyds Banking Group to shed 15,000 more jobs

 

Lloyds has said it will cut another 15,000 jobs, 14% of its workforce. The move is part of the banking group's strategic review that targets £1.5bn in annual savings by 2014 and aims to reduce its international presence.

 

The High Street lender has already cut 27,500 jobs since its merger with HBOS in 2009. However, the bank said it would not close any UK branches, implying that the cuts are likely to fall on middle management and back office functions. Among the promised changes were "better end-to-end processes and IT platforms, a de-layered management structure and simpler legal structure, [and] centralised support functions".

 

"This is a huge shake-up," said the BBC's business editor, Robert Peston, with consequences that "will ripple through the British economy". Among the many changes are plans for the bank to cut the number of suppliers it uses, which will have a knock-on impact on other companies.

 

Markets took the news well, with Lloyds' share price jumping 9% by mid-morning on the London Stock Exchange, making it the biggest climber in the FTSE 100.

 

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-13971159

aims to reduce its international presence

 

Reduce it's presence

 

Isn't that the opposite of most other companies want?

 

As for the strikes, it was so easy to get onto camp this morning

As for the strikes, it was so easy to get onto camp this morning

not so easy to get stuff from Tesco's, queues and kids everywhere

 

Mortgage comes first, owners warned

 

Thousands of homeowners are to be warned by taxpayer-owned banks to forget renewing their subscription to Sky TV or buying a new BlackBerry and instead focus on paying their mortgage.

 

More than 30,000 Bradford & Bingley and Northern Rock customers will receive phone calls over the next few months from UK Asset Resolution (UKAR) warning them about the possibility of them losing their homes.

 

UKAR runs the £80bn of mortgages bailed out by the taxpayer and is identifying customers who could get into trouble in an attempt to persuade them to change their behaviour.

 

Chief executive Richard Banks told the Yorkshire Post: "Some people won't cope when interest rates rise, but for others there are remedies.

 

"They need to think about what is their most important debt. It's not the credit card, or renewing their Sky subscription, or going out for the latest mobile technology, it's their mortgage. They have been protected by low interest rates, but the consensus is that rates will start to rise late next year."

 

He added that the UK is yet to see the impact of government spending cuts that will come in over the next few months.

 

UKAR said around 10% of its customers were having difficulties repaying their mortgages. The organisation is checking with credit agencies to see when their customers are getting into difficulties with debt.

 

They also said a good indicator of those in trouble is seeing which customers are making changes to or cancelling direct debit mortgage repayments to juggle finances.

 

"At both Bradford & Bingley and Northern Rock Asset Management we are running a pilot and are phoning customers and asking them how things are going," said Mr Banks. "We are also asking them what their plans are for when interest rates go up. Repossession is the last option for us. We want customers to look at their finances and change their behaviour."

 

A UK Asset Resolution spokesman said: "We always treat customers fairly. Where there are signs that any of our customers may be getting into difficulty with their mortgage we call them to offer help and advice. We can arrange for them to have independent debt management advice for free."

 

http://www.google.com/hostednews/ukpress/article/ALeqM5hFkWWq3JeQqwF-A5ImdIyq-vI9fA?docId=N0103181314747619833A

then

 

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fuRZINYgOoQ]UK housing market in crisis - YouTube[/ame]