Midlands TUC Pensioners Network Conferance 14th April Afternoon Session continued

Other points raised by our speaker Neil Duncan Jordan: - Pension and benefit increases to be based in future on CPI and not RPI will greatly reduce the lifetime benefits of pensioners, and will cost them many thousands of pounds. The rights of young people to get work is very important. We failed to get people out on the street when the Government of the day increased the retirement age from 65 to 68.

Care in the community is rationed and means tested, there is a lack of training and poor standards of care in most of the private care homes. We need a professional service for people who are receiving care in their home. Means tested care in Private care homes now costs £800 per week, no one checks your laundry, or help you to eat your dinner, all to often the staff are untrained, overworked and poorly paid. Carers do not get paid after the age of 65. In Southampton there are firms that will manage your care budget for you at a cost of 12%.

April 14th TUC Network Conference - Afternoon Session

Neil Duncan Jordan the NPC National Officer was introduced after lunch and below are some of the points made during his contribution to the debate: -The politics of aging is where the ageing population is used as an excise for implementing cuts. The welfare State was set up to ensure that no one was left really poor. The present Government is implying that people are unemployed because they are lazy, individuals are not responsible for the present conomic situation. Means testing should have no place in the fuel allowance,bus passes, pensions etc. When you look at the reduction and removal of social services, the ov erall effect on the average pensioner household is £2000 per annum.

Pensions: -Means testing complicated and intrusive - 1.8 million do not claim pension credit, 2.5 million pensioners are below the Governments poverty line and most of them are Women. Final salary scheme 8 out of every 10 schemes are now gone, relpaced by money purchase schemes, which are risky. The two pillars of the last Governments pension policy was Means testing and the final salary schemes,

Midlands TUC Pensioners Network/NPC Conference April 14th

The morning session of the conference was attended by 37 Representatives and concentrated on the effect of the Government's cuts in social spending on the NHS. The Guest Speaker was Cheryl Pidgeon Midlands TUC Regional Secretary, whose contribution contained the following points: -

The NHS reorganisation will cost £3B and cause a serious reduction in the front line staff, the cap has been taken off what Hospitals can now charge private patients. Care will vary, become a postcode lottery, and many vulnerable people will lose out, there will be less nurses on the ward's; 54% of clinical staff will go, with 46% nursing staff, the clinical staff are the lifeblood of the NHS. We should be making the banks pay their share and not the patients.The Coalition's approach to the NHS presents us with a completely different model of health care, which will put older patients at risk, particularly those suffering from Dementia, alcheimers etc. Dementia is not recogmnised as an illness, they have falls and fish up in hospital.

the current NHS Bill is unfair and must be deafeted, we must get in touch with our MP's and get the arguament across that people must be put before profits. There was many quesions and points of view put to Cheryl from the floor: - Ron Dolman we have now got a class budget, Alan M<arshall, some trade unionists accept the arguament that we need the present regime of cuts, John Bradbury, cuts not the only way forward. Cheryl in summing up made the additional points - The NHS in England is different to that in Wales and Scotland, in that ours is being opened up to competition, and means that Hospitals can go bankrupt and close. Prtivatisation always leads to change in conditions and raids on the pension funds. This issue took up the whole morning, was very enjoyable and was folled by an excellent lunch. 

Monday's Pensions Demonstration In Leicester

On Monday April 1th the East Midlands NPC, The Midlands TUC Retired Members Network and the PCS Union, held a demonstration outside the Pensions Office in Leicester, in protest at the current Governments policy on Pensions, particularly theie attacks on the Public Sector, and the NHS. Forty people turned up for the picket which was timed to take place at 1.00 pm and finished at 2.00 pm, We were lucky in that the weather was bright and sunny and resulted in a very good atmosphere.

The bulk of the pickets were positioned at the front entrance of the Pensions Office, which is used by the general public, a smaller number of pickets covered the staff entrance around the back, the public reacted very well witht the pickest many of whom were very young, we gave out between 700/800 leaflets and not a single person shouthed abuse or claimed that the cuts were justified. The Pension staff expressed their appreciation that so many members of the general public turned to support the issue of pensions. The picket was supported by members of the Unite Leicester RMA branch, local PCS branch, Midlands TUC Pensioners Network, Leicester Trades Council and the Leicester Action Group against the cuts, We were left with a feeling that this demonstration was the start of much campaigning against the policies of this Government.