 I have never known such anger in a dispute
NO SAYS Roger Irvine, Unison Branch Secretary Merseytravel TUESDAY, March 28 was a day of national strike action across the UK. Eleven trades unions took part in that action. In Newcastle, the Metro and the Tyne Tunnel was shut. There were no toll collectors on the Humber Bridge. In Glasgow the underground system and the main bus station was shut. In Northern Ireland all bus and rail services were cancelled. Strike action, in my opinion, should always be taken as a last resort. Staff lose pay and the impact can damage the business. The trade unions at Merseytravel, including Amicus, GMB, UCATT and Unison, took the decision to withdraw staff from the Mersey tunnels, prevent the Mersey ferries from sailing and suspend other key services to the public with much regret. Once the decision had been taken by the GMB for members in the control room at Mersey Tunnels to take part in the official action, then Merseytravel had no option but to close the tunnels down on health and safety grounds and allow only emergency service vehicles through just as in Newcastle. Almost all of the Merseytravel staff involved in the industrial action had never been on strike before. However, I've never been involved in any dispute before where there has been such anger because the Government's proposals affect everyone at every level within our and other Local Government organisations. This government has entered into negotiations with other public sector groups such as civil servants, teachers, nurses, police and the fire brigade to revise their pension schemes but have quite rightly protected existing members. Only the local government workers have not been offered protection. Why? Unlike civil servants who pay a nominal contribution, all of our staff pay at least 6% of their salary toward their pension. If we are lucky enough to give 25 years service and reach 60 we are able to retire on a full pension. The average pension is £3,300 per year. Women, who make up three quarters of the scheme get an average of £31 per week. We do not have a gold-plated pension scheme unlike MPs. Local government pension scheme members do not expect to retire in the lap of luxury but, having contributed 6% of their earnings to their pension throughout their employment they hope to be able to retire without relying on state benefits. They also expect to be treated fairly and equitably in relation to other public sector workers. They have not been. Ultimately we felt we had no option but to join other such "militants" as school dinner ladies, caretakers and librarians across the country to demonstrate our anger. The closure of key transport infrastructure across the country did cause huge disruption but the intent was to persuade the Government to treat local government workers fairly. We sincerely hope we do not have to repeat such action. | 
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