Motion 79
Pensions - Ensuring That Government and Employers Take Responsibility
“That this Congress notes that pensioner poverty is a real issue in Scotland. With the progressive removal, by employers, of defined benefit occupational pension schemes in favour of defined contribution arrangements, and the larger burden of cost, and all the investment risk, now lies with the workers.
“Pensions are deferred wages. By making insufficient contributions, employers are effectively cutting the pay of their workers and abdicating their responsibilities to them. They are leaving the state to pick up more of the tab for post-retirement living costs through the welfare and benefits system.
“Scotland is particularly worse off. It is known that Scots face higher mortality rates than the rest of the UK. Further, we see little recognition from Westminster of the fact that a higher proportion of the pension income here goes towards heating bills.
“It is right that the state provides a pension income floor that nobody should fall below. It is also right that employers properly look after all the workers that sustain their businesses. The time for redress is now.
“Congress therefore instructs the STUC General Council to:
- support campaigns for the raising of the value of the Basic State Pension and for halting plans to increase further the State Pension Age;
- work with both TUC Education and Scottish Union Learning to develop and deliver programmes that train and equip our union reps and negotiators with the knowledge and skills to drive improvements to employer pension contributions. Part of this would be to secure agreements for non-contributory pension schemes, or agreements which ensure that employee contributions are not just matched by employers, but that apply multipliers to employee contributions to even the burden of pension costs; and
- support branches to carry out equality impact assessments to ensure that the gender pensions gap is being actively addressed.”
Mover: Prospect
RSS