Public servants to take part in pension strike

Over 50,000 members of the NI Public Service Alliance (NIPSA) have today voted in favour of taking part in strike action next Tuesday, over a dispute about pensions.

The final result of the ballot was 71.5% in favour, with 28.5% voting against taking part in the strike action to preserve the Local Government Pension Scheme.

Union members have now been authorised to take action on March 28, which will see NIPSA members joining thousands of other local government workers throughout the UK in an official one-day strike.

NIPSA believe that the government plan to change the pension scheme in order to have members working right up until they are 65-years-old in order for them to be able to receive an unreduced pension.

A spokesman for NIPSA today said that its members covered by NI's Local Government Pension Scheme are outraged with the governments decision not to provide the same protection of existing pension rights as other public servants, including civil servants, teachers and health service workers.

He added: "There is no justification for these public servants to be treated as second class public servants."

In a letter today from NIPSA's General Secretary, John Corey to its members, he stated that it was essential that every member covered by the Local Government Pension Scheme should support the strike.

He also called upon people covered by the NILGOSC Pension Scheme, including members of Northern Ireland's District Councils, Education and Library Board, the Housing Executive and a number of non-Departmental Public Bodies, whether or not they are members of the pension scheme, to participate in the action.

Mr Corey's letter recommended that its members should refrain from attending work on March 28 and should join picket lines at their place of employment.

He concluded that the action was vital in protecting the pension scheme and in sending a clear message to both the government and employers, that they will not accept unilateral changes to the terms and conditions of their employment.

(EF/SP)