This morning I received this letter (double click to bring up detail) from UNISON confirming the ballot result over the Local Government Pension scheme. The recent Parliamentary statement on public pensions was mentioned and welcomed. However, this is NOT an offer and we must plan for strike action on November 30.
The letter stresses that UNISON is committed to negotiation right up to this date. The recent daft suggestion by Tory Minister Frances Maude that there should only be a 15 minutes strike on November 2011 since "talks are ongoing" has been rejected by all the Unions. The Government has had 9 months to come up with a firm offer and have failed consistently to do so.
Interestingly there were 4 Council by-elections last week in Islington, Redbridge, Birmingham and Ipswich. The turnout for these elections was 23%, 24%, 33% and 36% respectively. By coincidence this is an average turnout of 29%. For some strange reason I have not heard any Government minister call for legislation to overturn these results and have minimum turnouts in such ballots?
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