Pensions – Welfare – BBC Licence Fee – Austerity and Pensioners

Graham Wilson, CWU North West Retired Members Secretary, reports from the Union’s annual conference which was held in Bournemouth this month.

Here he details the retired members fringe meeting:

The meeting got off to a late start due to General Conference running over in order to hear from Jeremy Corbyn.

Allan Trotter chaired the meeting and introduced Tony Kearns the Senior Deputy
General Secretary who said that through the RMAC the union is defending the
Triple Lock for State Pension increases, defending the Basic State Pension,
defending Retired Members and defending all workers for their future as
pensioners.

He said the union always woks closely with the NPC to support them in their
campaigns to protect pensioner issues.

Continuing, Tony said it is the responsibility of the states to society to take care of
its most vulnerable people but their Tory government does not do that. It is happy to
look after millionaires and global companies moving benets from disabled people.
And they will keep coming back for more, all in the dogmatic drive for austerity.

The passage of motion 10 this morning shows that Retired Members are making
policy of this Union and promised that the defence of the Triple Lock will be taken
forward to the TUC.

Neil Duncan Jordan, National Ofcer of the National Pensioners’ Convention, was
the guest speaker and paid tribute to the CWU for its continued support which is
much appreciated.

He said he hoped motion 78 on the afternoon agenda
concerning NPC funding would be carried because the NPC desperately needs
extra income.

Neil said the NPC is the umbrella movement for pensioners; it’s the trade union for
pensioners.

Turning to the wedge that continues to be driven between the generations Neil said
it is being driven by powerful right wing think tanks, Tory dogma and the right wing
media.

They say pensioners have escaped the effects of austerity whilst workers
have suffered pay freezes. This leads to an attack on on Universal Benets and on
Pensions. But society is not like that.

Grandparents care for children; daughters and
sons care for parents. Families stick together.

But is it true that pensioners have escaped austerity?

There’s been a £4.6 billion
reduction in social care funding in the last 10 years.
Meals on Wheels has virtually disappeared. Malnutrition is on the increase.
Millions of pensioners live in substandard housing leading to fuel poverty and
increased Winter deaths.
We have the least adequate state pension in the Western world, only Chile and
Mexico are worse among OECD countries.

What about younger people?

Tuition fees; housing benet withdrawn for under 25’s; unaffordable housing; wage
freezes; zero hours contracts; worsening pension provision.
All of these factors, Neil asserted, are as a direct result of successive governments
policies. They are not the fault nor are they caused by pensioners.

Future generations will have worse occupational pensions than current pensioners
mainly as a result of the closure of nal salary schemes.

Historically governments have been happy to encourage private pensions because they propped up the woeful state pension. The new auto enrolment scheme is totally inadequate. It is forecast to provide a pension pot of £30,000 which will buy a pension of £1200 per
annum on current rates. The NPC will pressure both the Tories and Labour to improve this scheme.

But if we took away the bus pass; if we means tested Winter Fuel Allowance which, incidentally, would save only £150 million out of a pension budget of £92 billion, there is no guarantee it would be spent on the under 25’s; no guarantee it would be used to raise standards. More likely on this government’s record it would simply be used to lower our standard of living.

Property ownership and the rise of property values over decades they say makes us too rich. But this generation of pensioners were encouraged to buy our own homes so we could pay for our own social care!

Arguments that the triple lock is too generous are just nonsense. The state pension is still below the poverty level and the difference between the current pension and the new so called Single Tier Pension will widen over time. The whole of the new pension is protected by the triple lock whereas the State Second Pension element on today’s pension is excluded.

The arguments about inequality between generations are phoney arguments. The 5 richest families in this country have as much wealth as as the 12.5 million poorest people. That’s the real inequality.

Attacks on Universal Benefits are not about money, they’re about attacking the Welfare System.

The Tories want to diminish or privatise the Welfare System.
They’ve already privatised the free TV licence for the over 75’s. From 2018 it’ll be the responsibility of the BBC, a position the BBC were forced into in defence of it’s Charter.

How long will the BBC maintain it is anyone’s guess, and they’ll be able to reduce or abolish it without reference to parliament. It’s not the BBC’s role to administer welfare benefits. And, if they can privatise the TV licence what will stop
them from farming out the Winter Fuel Allowance to the energy companies or the bus pass to the transport companies.

The State Pension Age is already scheduled to increase to 68 and will be subject to revue every 5 years. The excuse is that people are living longer but there’s a 7 year difference in life expectancy between the rich and the poor. Life expectancy is also
job related. We might be living longer but can we work longer? The mantra seems to be "pay in longer, get less out".

Finally, Neil said the NPC will continue to link older concerns with those of the younger generations. The NPC is on it 24 hours a day. The support of the CWU is both appreciated and crucial.

Source: Graham Wilson / CWU / NPC