London Regional Secretary, Linda Perks, sent out yesterday news of this welcome policy statement on the Local Government Pension Scheme (LGPS) by London Councils Labour Group. "We condemn the arbitrary 3.2% increase in employee contributions to the Local Government Pension Scheme (LGPS) announced by George Osborne. This rise will force many current members of the scheme to leave with damaging consequences for them as individuals and the future viability of the scheme itself.
We reject the characterisation of local government pensions as “gold plated” and note that in 2009/10 the average LGPS annual pension was just £4052. We believe that LGPS, being a funded scheme, can be sustainable and affordable.
We believe this proposal seriously undermines these principles. We therefore demand that the chancellor withdraws his proposal and that the Government enters into dialogue with Local Authorities and the Trade Unions to secure the future of the LGPS".
18 out of the 32 London Boroughs are currently run by Labour, although all 32 Labour Groups are signed up to it. Boroughs should be publicising the statement locally. I am pleased that in May this similar motion was passed unanimously by Newham Council at our AGM. I understand that other Labour run Councils and Labour Groups have adopted the same motion and policy statements.
No comments:
Post a Comment