Court ruling leaves us no alternative but to strike again

The court ruling that it is 'lawful' to go ahead with the change from RPI to CPI for the indexation of pensions is no real surprise - the courts have rarely been a friend to the trade union movement.
But this is an unjust and unfair decision that hits all pensioners, not just public scetor trade unionists. In fact, as the NUT press release below explains, the Government won't even confirm whether state pensions will even go up by the low CPI rate next year. Are they planning even bigger cuts to our poverty-level state pensions?

Commenting on today’s High Court decision regarding the Government’s decision to change pension indexation from RPI to CPI inflation, Christine Blower, General Secretary of the National Union of Teachers, the largest teachers’ union said:

“The NUT took part in this action because the Government’s decision was simply wrong.  Cutting pensions to save money at pensioners’ expense is disgraceful and immoral.  

“All three judges agreed that a substantial motivation for the switch to CPI was deficit reduction.  It is disappointing that only one judge felt able to say that that was wrong.  It’s also disappointing that the arguments advanced by the other unions involved were treated so dismissively.  The NUT has obtained permission to appeal to the Court of Appeal.

“In the meantime, the Government has deliberately avoided saying whether public sector pensions will be increased even by CPI in 2012.  We call on George Osborne to make his position clear immediately and tell pensioners that he is not going to impose even bigger cuts next year.”