The GMB union plans to campaign against proposals in today’s Pension Commission report for the state pension age to rise to 67.
The report made clear this rise was unlikely to happen until 2040, but said that it had to happen to counter demographic changes that will see an ever greater proportion of the population being in retirement.
Paul Kenny, GMB acting general secretary, said that with average life expectancy for men in Glasgow of 69.3 years and for men in Kensington & Chelsea of 80.8 years, a uniform, compulsory pension age of 67 was “simply not acceptable”.
“There is no way that GMB will go along with raising the state pension age to 67,” he said. “GMB will actively campaign against this proposal.”
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Lord Turner’s report also recommended an element of compulsion on employers who would have to pay the equivalent of 3% of employees’ earnings into a national pension savings scheme, with staff paying in 5% of their salary.
Again the GMB said this was not enough, and called for employers to put in twice as much as pension scheme members.
