Author Archives: Ian Wallace

Opinion: Civil Service strike – the follow up

By Ian Wallace | Thu 10th May 2012 - 8:58 am

“Once more unto the breach” goes the rallying call from my Union Reps as we prepare to strike on May 10 2012. Following up the N30 strike on public sector pensions which I have written about previously on this blog, I issued an alternative rallying call – to get round the table and negotiate. But unsurprisingly ignored.

I find myself weirdly ambivalent this time. I shouldn’t be. It is fundamentally about funding my life throughout retirement and yet, the approach taken by the union since the previous strike does not do anybody any favours.

The three tests for me are: Do we …

Posted in Op-eds | Tagged pensions and strikes | 10 Comments

Opinion: Wednesday’s strikes – A Lib Dem trade unionist’s perspective

By Ian Wallace | Sat 3rd December 2011 - 12:58 pm

So, why am I striking?

The government is continuing to persist in their unaffordable and unsustainable claims. The Hutton interim report published in October 2010 stated that as a percentage of GDP, the cost of public sector pensions will go from 1.9% to 1.7% by 2030 due to the reforms that happened in 2006 under the previous Government.

The government is deliberately being less than honest over the true impact of the pensions changes in order to meet their pre-election rhetoric. This is nothing more than playing games with people’s retirement plans.

The government is not negotiating. They are using classic bully-boy playground …