Monday 16 January 2012

Strikers battle over private sector pension

16 January 2012
Workers who make Marmite, PG Tips, Pot Noodles and other famous household brands are striking to defend their pensions.
Members of three unions – GMB, Unite and USDAW – are beginning a rolling programme of walkouts at Unilever plants across the UK.
The workers are determined to stop the company closing their final salary pension scheme.

For more details of the dispute and the rolling action see the Unite website
PCS members are urged to support local picket lines and donate to any hardship funds.
Mark Serwotka, PCS general secretary, said last month when the Unilver strikes started: “The government shamelessly tries to play public servants off against their colleagues in the private sector, when the real divide over pensions is between the wealthy bosses and shareholders, and the workforces they exploit.

"Despite ministers' best efforts, the public sector strike in November was supported by many in the private sector who recognise that the answer to their problems is not an equality of misery, but fair pensions for all.
"The real pensions scandal is not the very modest packages in the public sector, but the near destruction of decent pensions schemes in the private sector.

"We stand shoulder to shoulder with workers in Unilever who are fighting for a fair and decent pension in retirement, and we hope to work more closely with them and other private sector workers in the weeks and months ahead."

Last week Unite won a victory in the private sector when car-manufacturer BMW reversed a plan to exclude new entrants from the company pension scheme.
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