GEORGE OSBOURNES AUTUMN BUDGET OFFERS NOTHING BUT COLD COMFORT TO BRITAIN'S PENSIONERS

Our Chancellor of the exchequer has missed a golden opportunity to demonstrate that he cares about the Poor and less fortunate people in our society.

Britain's biggest pensioner organisation, the National Pensioners Convention (NPC) has described today's Autumn Statement as offering "cold comfort" to the country's older generation.

Dot Gibson, NPC general Secretary said: - "The biggest concerns currently facing millions of older people are the price of keeping warm, negligible returns on their savings and inadequate increases in their pensions. It was quite amazing that the Chancellor therefore managed to ignore them all. Instead he announced that Britain's poorest pensioners would get a below inflation increase in the pension credit of just 3.9%, and no extra help with rising fuel bills. Millions of pensioners now face a Christmas where the role of Mr Scrooge will be played by George Osborne".

"The Chancellor also seemed to get confused when in one breath he spoke of getting young people into work, and in the net declared that he would raise the state retirement age to 67. The reality is that we will not tackle youth employment by forcing older workers to keep on working. The gap in life expectancy between the richest and poorest cab be as great as 17 years, so any decision to raise the retirement is basically robbing today's low paid of their future retirement".

MIDLANDS TUC REGIONAL PENSIONERS NETWORK fULLY SUPPORTS THE UNIONS ACTION ON NOVEMBER 30TH 2011

THE MIDLANDS TUC REGIONAL PENSIONERS NETWORK EXECUTIVE CALLS ON ALL ITS MEMBERS TO PARTICIPATE IN THE ACTIVITIES ORGANISED BY THE STRIKERS ON NOVEMBER 30TH.

• The Midlands TUC Pensioners Network are pleased to have this opportunity to supports the Strikers on November 30th, this will be  an historic event, and affords us the opportunity of helping to forge strong links between today's and tomorrows pensioners. It's important because the campaign for "Fair Pensions For All" links both the state and occupational pensions and makes it clear that we need better pensions in this country for everyone.
• Britain has a terrible record on pensions. Average company pensions are around £5000 a year and we have one of the lowest state pensions in Europe. One in five older people live below the official poverty line and millions more are struggling to keep up with the cost of living.
• The state pension for those who have worked all their lives is just £102.15 per week - but the poverty line is around the £!72 app per week. If you were low paid when you were working - you will be poor in retirement. Poor workers become poor pensioners.
• Since coming to power this government has already weakened our pension system, by linking future increases to the lower Consumer price index rather than the retail price index. Over a ten year period this would cut your pension by 15-20%. And not just from your Company pension - but your state pension as well.
• We are not all in this together - the average pension of company directors in the top hundred companies is £175,000 per year. Pension inequality is what the Government should be tackling - not trying to cut the pensions of those who teach our children or collect our rubbish.
• The Government wants everyone to work longer and raise the retirement age - at a time when we have the highest unemployment for decades. As pensioners we know the importance of getting young people into work - rather than making us all work until we are 70. The Government is well aware that the richer you are - the longer you will live. The age gap between those in Glasgow and those in Kensington and Chelsea can be as much as seventeen years. Raising the retirement age hurts the poorest the most.
• We should also be clear that the Government and certain sections of the media will try very hard to divide us. But the truth is that we all pay for every one's pension - either through taxes, National Insurance or the price that you pay when you are out shopping. We should also remember that the best pension scheme in the Country is the one that the MP's receive - and we pay for that as well.
• So its time we had a new approach to pensions in this Country. Raise the State pension the poverty level for everyone and then give people the opportunity to earn a decent pension when they are at work.
• The Network fully supports the National pensioners Convention slogan which sends out a very clear message to the Government: -

"We are standing up for today's and tomorrow's pensioners and that is what the action on November 30th is all about".

Sheena Gordon (Sec) Mike McLoughlin (Chair)

HANDS OFF OUR PENSIONS - WRITE TO AND LOBBY YOUR MP FOR A DECENT PENSION

FICTION: DANNY ALEXANDER'S FIGURES DO NOT ADD UP

The Governments own figures have exposed that Ministers claims about a substantially improved offer on pensions were a fiction. On November 2nd David Cameron and Danny Alexander said that the new proposals would mean that some people would receive improved pensions. But a pensions calculator on the civil service website contradicted those statements. Channel 4 News's Fact Checker studied the documents - and declared that the Government Ministers' claims were fiction. Read the full story and send the link around to your friends and colleagues: www.pcs.org.uk/fiction  

Unite for public and private sector pensions

Please ask everyone in your workplace - friends and family - to write to their Westminster MP's to support the PCS campaign for "Fair pensions for all" we want politicians to be bombarded with letters supporting the November 30th strike, and demanding decent pensions for private and public sector workers - and an increase in the state pension which is £70 per week below the Governments own poverty line. find our model letter and send it for free: www.pcs.org.uk/n30MP 

Time line to strike day

With five days to go until up to 3 million workers take action on November 30th your plans for industrial action should be well advanced. Here are some key activities for people to participate during strike week.

•  Find out what is happening on strike day in your area  and publicise events: www.pcs.org,uk/n30events
•  Tell colleagues about strike day activities and encourage them to attend.
•  make sure that every non-member has been asked to join the PCS.
•  brief local anti-cuts groups on our campaign to defend jobs, pensions and pay.

For more tips take a look at the campaign pack: www.pcs.org.uk/pack

NATIONAL PENSIONERS CONVENTION (NPC) WILL LAUNCH THEIR DIGNITY CODE FOR OLDER PEOLE IN 2012

The purpose of this Dignity Code is to uphold the rights and maintain the personal dignity of older people, within the context of ensuring the health, safety and well being of those who are increasingly less able to care for themselves or to properly conduct their affairs.

This Code recognises that certain practices and actions are unacceptable to older people, such as: -

• Being abusive or disrespectful in any way, ignoring people or assuming that they cannot do things for themselves.
• Treating older people as objects or speaking about them in their presence as if they were not there.
• Not respecting the need for privacy.
• Not informing older people of what is happening in a way that they can understand.
• Changing the older person's environment without their permission.
• Intervening or performining care without consent.
• Using unnecessary medication or restraints.
• Failing to take care of an older person's personal appearance.
• Not allowing older people to speak for themselves, either directly or through the use of a friend, relative or advocate.
• Refusing treatment on the grounds of age.

This Code therefore call for: -

• Respect for Individuals to make up their own minds, and for their personal wishes as expressed in "living wills", for implementation when they can no longer express themselves clearly.
• Respect for an individual's habits, values, particular cultural background and any needs, linguistic or otherwise. 
• The use of formal spoken terms of address, unless invited to do otherwise.
• Comfort, consideration, inclusion, participation,stimulation and a sense of purpose in all aspects of care.
• care to be adapted to the needs of the individual.
• Support for the individual to maintain their hygiene and personal appearance.
• Respect for people's homes, living space and privacy.
• Concerns to be dealt with thoroughly and the right to complain without fear of retribution.
• The provision of advocacy services where appropriate.

NPC - Walkden House, 10 Melton St. London NW1 2EJ - www.npcuk.org

WHY DOES ANDREW LANSLEY KEEP A CIVIL SERVICE REPORT ON THE NHS SECRET

The Health Minister Andrew Lansley has been refusing to publish a civil service report on the risks that he is taking

with the NHS.

For the last year he has refused to publish this report. Now the information Commissioner has ordered him to publish it. However he could still keep it hidden for another month - until after more key votes have taken place. We cannot afford to wait that long. The House of Lords is debating the NHS plans right now. If the report on risks to the NHS is released immediately, it could persuade key members of the House of Lords to stand up to the Government.

Let's raise an uproar in Parliament and force Lansley's hand. Email your MP now and tell them to demand that this secret NHS report is made public immediately: https://secure.38degrees.org.uk/nhs-secret-report

Pressure from MP's could force Lansley to publish this report. If enough of us contact them now, we can get it out in the open before it's to late. MP'S will not want to find themselves back under fire because of Lansley's cover-up. So lets all email our MP's now and tell them, that they have to force Lansley to publish his secret NHS risks report.

The Information Commissioner's ruling lists Andrew Lansley's arguments for why he wants this report kept secret. Lansley argues that releasing the report "would have jeopardised the success of the policy". He has kept us, MP's and members of the House of Lords in the dark deliberately because he is worried that making those risks public could derail his plans. Please take two minutes to ask your MP to demand that the NHS risks report is made public immediately. The NHS belongs to all of us. We all pay for it, and we all reply on it to care for us and our loved ones. We do not want it put at risk - that's exactly why we have been campaigning together all these months. We have a right to see what this report says. Let us all work together to get our MP's to force Lansley to publish the secret NHS risk report.

johnny Chatterton - 38 Degrees

THE UK GOVERNMENT'S LATEST POSITION REGARDING THE ROBIN HOOD TAX

On November At The G20 Summit On Monday November 7th. 

At the G20 summit held on Monday, Countries including Germany, France, Brazil and South Africa, stood up and said that we want a Robin Hood Tax. Then George Osbourne announced the UK Government's plan to block progress, this was followed up on Wednesday by Nick Clegg getting in on the act and telling Europe to "forget the Robin Hood Tax".

We have just a few weeks in which to change our Government's tune. On the 9th of December David Cameron will attend a European summit. The Robin Hood Tax should be on the table. We need to make sure he's under underwhelming pressure from us to back the tax. Can you send your MP a letter now urging them to tell Cameron to back the Robin Hood Tax? A steady stream of MP's warning Cameron that voters are not happy could persuade him to change his tune.

So together, lets flood our MP's with messages demanding that the UK stops blocking the Robin Hood Tax. Click here to get started: https://secure.38degrees.org.uk/robin-hood-email-your-MP If the UK blocks global progress on a Robin Hood Tax, it will be another victory for the big banks and their lobbyists. But we know that people power can challenge these kinds of sinister interests. Whether its tax dodgers, lobbyists, or Rupert Murdock, when we come together in numbers we can win.

The Robin Hood tax is a brilliant idea. More and more countries across the globe agree that its time has come. It would be a tragedy if the UK banking lobbyists were able to block progress. So let's work together now to make sure that David Cameron stops backing bankers and starts backing the rest of us. Click on the web site above and email your MP, it will only take a couple of minutes.

David Babbs 38 Dergrees 

PS. The Robin Tax is pretty simple - it's a Tax on the Financial sector which has the power to raise hundreds of billions every year globally. It could give a vital boost to the NHS, our schools, and the fight against Child Poverty in the UK - as well as tackling poverty and climate change around the world. Its backed by hundreds of thousands of people. over 115 organisations and Nobel Prize winning economists. You can find out more here: http://robinhoodtax.org/

NHS: SOME GOOD NEWS REGARDING MAKING LIFE DIFFICULT FOR THE HEALTH MINISTER

Yesterday we moved a step closer to stopping one of the worst bits of Andrew Lansley's NHS Plan.

Good news from 38 Degrees, It looks like we are on track to stop the health minister being able to wasjh his hands of legal responsibility for our health service. The Guardian reports today that the Government had to make concessions in the House of Lords, "In order to stave off an embarrassing rebellion from Lib Dem peers." There will now be futher negotiations. The final vote on this isssue will be in January at the earliest. It is "unlikely that the Lib Dem rebels will back down."

Its not over yet, nowhere near. We will need to get our independent legal experts to look very carefully at whatever the Government does next, But this is a breakthrough. And a great sign of of hope that people power can influence the House of Lords. We voted together to make it a priority to stop Andrew Lansley scrapping his "duty to provide" health services. And we worked together to decide on the tactics we use to stop this happening. Slowly but surely our people powered campaign to protect the NHS is working.

38 Degree members paid together for the independent legal advice which first set out the risks of scrapping the Secretary of State's duties. Thousands of us signed the emergency petition last month. And thousands more of us emailed Lords ans Baronesses in the past two weeks. We have taken some nasty abuse from politicians for our efforts. Andrew Landsley stood up in Parliament to accuse us of producing "propaganda." A number of Conservative MP's contacted 38 Degrees members in their area to say that we were liars. One Lib Dem Lord branded us all as a "mob." But now the Government has finally been forced to admit that we have a point.

This is a small breakthrough on a hiuge issue. There is so much more to do to protect our NHS. Over the next few weeks the NHS plan will continue the "committee stage" in the House of Lords. We will need to push for other improvements like scrapping the 2hands off clause." and reining in competition. Then we will have even bigger decisions to make. As the Lords gear up for the final votes in early 2012, we will need to vote again on what we do together next, Should we push for further changes to Landsley's plan

UNISON members vote yes in pensions strike in ballot

Members of UNISON, the UK’s largest union, have today voted overwhelmingly in favour of strike action to protect their pensions.

The union balloted members including nurses, teaching assistants, social workers, care assistants, paramedics, police staff, school dinner ladies, probation workers and cleaners.

Overall: Yes: 245,358

No: 70,253

Results
Local Government (Including Scotland)
Yes 171,428
No 54,500
76% in favour – Turnout 30%

NHS (including Scotland)

Yes 73,930 No 15,753
82% in favour – Turnout 25%

Dave Prentis, General Secretary of UNISON said:
“The decisive yes vote in the ballot, reflects the deep concern that our members have over Government ministers’ proposals for their pensions. “Yesterday’s statement in Parliament was a marked improvement on earlier proposals.

“But, it is important to understand that the statement has to be translated into offers in the scheme specific talks. We still have had no offer in those negotiations, where such an offer can legitimately be made.

“We support the TUC day of action on 30 November, but will be negotiating right up to then and beyond to get a fair deal for our members.” Senior lay officials of the union are meeting throughout the afternoon to discuss the latest Government statement on pensions and to decide what action to take as a result of the strike ballot.