Beefeaters at Historic Royal Palaces to strike on Tuesday 8 January
GMB members at Historical Royal Palaces to picket on the gates of The Tower of London and Hampton Court Palace on January 8 after strike ballot over pensions
HRP are jumping on a bandwagon which is seeing employers engaging in a race to the bottom, says GMB London
GMB members, including beefeaters, working for the Historic Royal Palaces (HRP) have voted to strike over the loss of their pension. The first day of strike action will be 8th January 2019. [See notes to editors for previous GMB press releases]
Staff at Tower of London and Hampton Court Palace voted overwhelmingly to support strike action with a result of 91% after a turnout of 88%.
HRP have decided to close employees’ final salary pensions despite promises made to them at the time of privatisation. Final salary pensions will be replaced by an inferior pension despite HRP failing to provide any evidence other than they want to use members pension contributions for other projects.
The UK state pension is already the worst in the developed world, according to the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). As a percentage of average earnings, the UK government only pays out 29%, putting it at the bottom of the table below.
|
Rank |
Country |
% of average earnings |
|
1 |
Netherlands |
100.6 |
|
2 |
Portugal |
94.9 |
|
3 |
Italy |
93.2 |
|
4 |
Austria |
91.8 |
|
5 |
Spain |
81.8 |
|
24 |
UK |
29 |
|
|
OECD average |
62.9 |
Michael Ainsley, GMB Regional Organiser said:
“HRP are jumping on a bandwagon which is seeing employers engaging in a race to the bottom, ending good final salary schemes and replacing them with risky cheaper defined contribution schemes.
“All the while the UK government stands idly by at a time when they're telling the population to save for their retirement and our elderly can’t afford to pay for social care.
“GMB members still at this late stage are willing to talk to HRP but the silence from HRP is deafening.”
ENDS
Contact: Michael Ainsley 07974 250 947 or GMB London Press Office 07970 114 762
Notes to Editors
Previous GMB Press Releases:
“Historic Royal Palaces staff to be balloted on strike action over closed pensions” (29 Nov 2018)
“Beefeaters to be balloted on strike action” (9 Nov 2018)
https://www.gmblondon.org.uk/news/beefeaters-to-be-balloted-on-strike-action
Source for table:
https://www.ftadviser.com/pensions/2018/02/13/uk-state-pension-worst-in-the-developed-world/
