After PCS members in the National Library of Wales smashed the anti-union threshold with over 81% turnout in their recent ballot with a tremendous 95% yes vote for strike action alongside our sister union Prospect who also had a successful ballot, management have caved in on introducing detrimental changes to the National Library pension scheme.
This is a fantastic victory for our members in the National Library and the determined stance the branch has taken since management indicated what they were planning. This included reducing the accruals from 1/80 to 1/100, increasing the pension age to the state pension age, and introducing additional contributions from members to reduce the employer’s contributions to 12%! Delegates at the Wales ADC in March were left in no doubt about the branch’s readiness to fight attacks on their pensions with a fighting speech moving motion A15 and the conference gave our full support to the branch. Whilst we are fighting to improve the civil service pension scheme, we must fight to ensure that no members have even worse terms.
We will continue to fight to ensure that we place our manifesto demands on the new Welsh Government to defend our culture sector members alongside all our members and services in Wales.
On culture PCS calls on the Welsh Government to: –
- Restore grant-in-aid to the National Library of Wales and Museum Wales to its previous real-terms level and for annual above inflation increases to meet the rising costs both organisations face each year.
- Establish a sustainable 5-year funding model that will allow both organisations to rebuild from the loss of skills and resources following over a decade of austerity.
- Fully fund pay increases at both organisations, so that threats of redundancies and reductions in staffing levels do not happen every year.
- Ensure a fair pension for workers at arms-length bodies that is on par with those offered to other branches of Welsh Government.
If you want to get involved in the fight for improved pay, pensions, job security and conditions across the union then join the Broad Left Network
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