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The HSJ, the media and even the BMA are all falling into the govt spin trap by using the same terminology that Danny Alexander is using - this misrepresents what is happening here...i.e. 'the govt increases its pensions offer by 8%'. This is total rubbish...this is not an 'offer' in any sense of the word or by any stretch of the imagination.
I have been involved in many wage negotiations in my hospital management career and the term 'offer' is used when the management puts a proposal on the table and the other side comes back with either acceptance or a counter demand. The 'offer' is usually a wage increase or a positive change in T&Cs or both. It is not a promise not to do something.
All the govt has done in this 'improved offer' is to 'offer' a reduction in the amount that they are going to cut our salaries by. Restoring the 1/60th which was part of the T&C anyway is giving us back what we already had, this is such an old trick I can't believe anyone has fallen for it.
This is not a wage negotiation and certainly has not been a negotiation in good faith... the govt side has been simply been repeating the Treasury script and given not one inch... They have made a unilateral decision to cut public service pay by increasing pension contributions. End of.
This is part of the overall agenda to reduce the size of the public service 1)privatising the NHS and getting people off the NHS payroll and pension scheme, and onto private providers payroll. This includes private providers and FTs and Social Enterprises (whose life expectancy must be very limited) and 2) reducing the pay and pensions of those that remain in the NHS.
And it is a race to the bottom of the pension pile.
The argument about public pensions being better than private pensions and how unfair a situation this is, is entirely disingenuous... this is what has happened to private pensions http://t.co/agf5rOyh
and now they are after our public service pensions.
It is an absolute disgrace.