13 September 2006
Trade unions have backed calls for an immediate increase in the
state pension to £114 per week and for restoring the link
with earnings by next year.
TUC delegates in Brighton have supported a motion saying that
although the government's pension white paper proposed many welcome
reforms, it did not go far enough.
Proposed by the GMB union and backed by the Public and
Commercial Services union and Amicus, the motion said that waiting
until 2012 to restore the earnings-pensions link will leave
millions of pensioners worse off.
When the national minimum wage rises again next month to
£5.35 a week, it will see the lowest paid workers earn
£214 a week. However, the basic state pension for a single
person currently stands at just £84.25 a week, or £2.10
an hour, something unions say must be addressed urgently.
"Pensions are what stands between an independent and confident
retirement or benefits, dependency and fear," GMB general secretary
Paul Kenny said. "The government is at last proposing some
seriously overdue changes.they're very welcome but restoring the
link cannot wait until 2012."
The unions are also opposed to plans to raise the retirement age
to 68, something the government insists is necessary to pay for the
more generous pension that will arise out of it being linked with
earnings, rather than inflation.
