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Getting help in the workplace

If you need urgent help at work and do not know who your local steward is you can get help by ringing UNISONdirect on 0845 355 0845.

Lines open 6am to midnight-Monday to Friday and 9am to 4pm on Saturday.  They will alert branch stewards to your request for help and arrange for someone to contact you as soon as possible.

Key pension facts

The government wants to impose changes to public sector pensions that would mean we:

  • PAY MORE - an increase of NHS pension contributions by 25% - 70%
  • WORK LONGER - an increase the normal retirement age by up to 8 years (and longer if people live longer)
  • GET LESS - reduce the rate of growth of pensions in relation to inflation (up to 12% reduction in value of pension)
  • Public sector pensions ARE AFFORDABLE - the NHS scheme has a £2 billion surplus.  This money goes to the government not pensions.
  • The £10 billion raised through INCREASED CONTRIBTUIONS WILL NOT GO TO FUND NHS PENSIONS - the money will be taken to pay off the cost of bailing out the banks.  The extra contributions are AN UNFAIR TAX on public sector workers.
  • WAGES HAVE ALREADY SHRUNK by around 5% due to the wage freeze and rapidly rising prices.
  • Bankers GAVE THEMSELVES £7 billion in bonuses in January 2011 with billions more in jan 2012
  • PENSIONS ARE DEFERRED WAGES.  They are not an unfair perk, but part of our terms and conditions our unions fought for.  Cutting our pensions is no  different from cutting our wages.
  • WE WANT DECENT PENSIONS FOR ALL - including private sector workers whose pensions have been shrunken by employers reducing their contributions.  SAY NO TO DIVIDE AND RULE - don't be fooled by attempts to play off private sector workers against the public sector.
  • Millions of public sector workers united to strike on Nov 30.  NUT, PCS, UNITE and NASUWT unions are all prepared to strike again to defend our pensions.
  • We will provide emergency cover if we strike again

Strike resources

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