30 June UCU STRIKE TO DEFEND OUR PENSIONS

On 30 June 2011, hundreds of thousands of teachers and lecturers will strike to defend their pensions.

UCU, NUT and ATL will take united strike action, together with PCS, and rallies will take place all over the country.

Make sure you get involved!

YOUR PENSION UNDER ATTACK

The Teachers’ Pension Scheme is under attack from the government which wants to plug the budget deficit by taking from UCU members’ pensions. They want us to:
• pay more into our pensions: for a typical FE lecturer this could mean an extra £88 per month. For a university lecturer it could mean an extra £124 a month
• work longer by raising the retirement age to 65
• they want to slash the value of your pension by using a lower measure of inflation – meaning a loss of £36K or more over the course of an FE lecturer’s retirement or £65K for a university lecturer
• They want to end final salary schemes and move to an massively inferior ‘career average’ pension

STUDENTS’ EDUCATION WILL SUFFER

This attack on TPS will mean that colleges and universities could lose staff to better rewarded jobs elsewhere. Many of your colleagues may consider
leaving the profession if their pensions are slashed in the way proposed.

THIS ATTACK IS UNNECESSARY

The Teachers’ Pension Scheme is not in crisis. Unions already agreed reforms in 2006 to make the scheme sustainable.

OUR PENSIONS ARE NOT ‘GOLD PLATED’

The average pension is £10,000 and these proposals could mean a 30% cut over the course of a retirement. Education staff have always accepted lower pay than comparable professions partly because we could rely on a decent and dignified retirement. Now the government wants us to pay with our pensions for an economic crisis we did
not create.

THE GOVERNMENT REFUSES TO LISTEN

After months of talks with ministers it is now clear that the government is refusing to budge on its proposals.

THAT’S WHY WE NEED TO STEP UP THE CAMPAIGN