Common sense must prevail in pensions row

Trade unions are incredibly adept at seizing an opportunity and squeezing it for all it’s worth. Supporters would argue that’s what they’re there for. After all, there’s nothing like a good headline about downtrodden workers fighting against evil employers to boost union membership.

But in this emotive battle over the local government pension scheme, the unions are not letting common sense get in the way of a good argument.

Trying to halt these reforms is rather like King Canute attempting to hold back the tide. For public sector employers, these changes are inevitable and necessary. That’s why they are refusing to buckle under what they regard as “selfish” strikes.

The cost of a union victory – £6bn over 15 years – is far too high a price to pay. If the private sector had this kind of pressure, businesses would simply collapse.

Sign up to our weekly round-up of HR news and guidance

Receive the Personnel Today Direct e-newsletter every Wednesday

Email(Required)

OptOut

From time to time, we will send you emails about selected products, events and services from Personnel Today and OHW+ - but you can choose to opt-out at any time. If you do not wish to receive these emails, please tick this box.

Name

This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.

Δ

There may be a long and weary run of strikes ahead, but haven’t the unions made their point? It’s time to move on, get real, and let common sense prevail.