Fight for pensions Cllr Walsh rather than write half-truths
9:04am Thursday 22nd December 2011 in Comment
HOW jolly decent of Cllr Walsh to leave it to readers to decide whose side he and his colleagues are on (Your Letters, December 7). What a shame his letter contained a catalogue of halftruths so that readers can’t make an informed decision.
Let’s start with that council staff were forced “to be away from their jobs against their wishes”.
As I am sure Cllr Walsh is aware, plenty of provision was made for everyone who wanted to go in to work to have a place to go in to.
The only people who did not work were the people who made the conscious — and conscientious — choice to stand up for themselves and their colleagues across the country.
That should also put paid to the lie that Labour councillors did anything whatsoever without reference to the rest of the council.
What they did do was table a motion at a full council meeting on October 19 to morally support all council employees in their struggle against this government’s unwarranted, unmandated and unjustifiable attack on their pensions.
According to the minutes of this meeting, you were there, Cllr Walsh. How could you not have been aware of this?
Cllr Walsh states that council tax has been on a constant rise in order to underwrite pensions.
Again, I am sure Cllr Walsh knows full well that council tax does not “underwrite” a penny of local government pensions. As with any employer’s pension scheme, public or private sector, the council does make a contribution to the pension. This is part of the normal remuneration, ie a part of the salary.
The Local Government Pension Scheme needs no underwriting as it is a strong and wellmanaged fund. Besides this, as Cllr Walsh again knows full well, this government’s attack on our pensions will do absolutely nothing to reduce council tax because all monies raised by it will go to the Treasury.
This is a fact that is backed up by the government’s pensions calculator. Sticking your fingers in your ears and shouting “la la la” will not change it.
It is a truth that far too few private sector workers have access to decent pension schemes. This was not always the case, however. So wouldn’t Cllr Walsh’s efforts be far better spent in joining the fight to rectify this injustice rather than seeking to bring everyone down to the lowest common denominator?
Wouldn’t that be serving his electorate in a far more meaningful way?
Dave Milne Brookfield Street Bolton
