Hundreds of millions in further cuts outstanding
by A London tube worker
On 14 October, Transport for London (TfL) proposed two profound changes to our pensions, putting an end to the fallacy that ‘No change was an option’. TfL’s pension report is part of the funding agreement with the Conservative government.
It now seems that TfL’s preference is to transfer us into the local government pension scheme, effectively washing their hands of any responsibility or risk.
The report is clear that any such transfer would be on the terms of the scheme we transfer into. This would mean a near-doubling of our contributions, with major cuts to future benefits. These include big reductions for taking our pension before the raised retirement age of 65, CPI rather than RPI inflation measures, and career-average rather than final-salary used to calculate pensions.
Now that the game of words is over and TfL have laid their cards on the table, it’s important that we act, and act quickly. The TUC has organised a lobby of parliament on 2 November. It’s imperative that we attend in huge numbers. The phoney war is over. Let’s show solidarity against the attacks on our class.
And on 3 November, let’s take strike action to show London Underground and the Conservative government that we will defend our pension, our jobs, and our terms and conditions in the face of Tory ideology and austerity. The government is weak, the Labour London mayor claims to be opposed to his own attacks on TfL! We need to fight now.