Unions warn of coordinated strikes over pensions

LONDON (Reuters) - Public sector unions are gearing up for coordinated strikes involving as many as 1.9 million workers if talks over pension reforms break down.

Teaching unions are among those that have already voted to ballot members on strikes that could come as soon as June.

A second wave of coordinated strikes could sweep Britain in the autumn if other unions are dissatisfied with the outcome of negotiations between Treasury officials and union bosses, expected to conclude around the end of June.

Union action could add to the strains on a Conservative-led coalition government that has just completed a year in power and is committed to cutting a record budget deficit.

"Unless the government changes tack, it is heading for sustained industrial action on a massive scale," said Dave Prentis, general secretary of Unison which has more than a million members in public sector pension schemes.

"I am leading the negotiations with the Treasury on pensions. We are hoping for the best, but planning for the worst. This includes getting our membership records as accurate as possible, ready for industrial action," he said.

Trade unions have had fraught relations with the Conservative Party since Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher defeated them in a series of industrial disputes in the 1980s.

Membership has roughly halved since then, although the public sector remains a bastion of union support.

"Coordinated strikes are unusual these days given the way the law works, in that everyone has to have their own grounds for dispute coinciding. Pensions affect a large number of unions and workers in a way no other issue does," said Richard Hyman, Professor of Industrial Relations at London School of Economics.

"If there is very strong support the electoral implications going forward could be substantial and that might worry some in government. It's extremely difficult to predict," he said.

"GOLD PLATED PENSIONS"

The coalition government is consulting over proposals to make public sector workers, whose pensions have been deemed unsustainable and unfair compared to the private sector, retire later and receive lower benefits.

Experts say the proposals could save the Conservative-led coalition government 2 billion pounds a year at a time when finance minister George Osborne is seeking to cut a budget deficit running at about 10 percent of GDP by 2015.

Deputy prime minister Nick Clegg, the Liberal Democrat leader, warned last year that Britain could no longer afford "gold plated" public sector pensions.

"In the early 1970s life expectancy of a 60 year old was around 18 years -- now it is around 28 years," a Treasury spokesman said. "Public service pensions cost the taxpayer 32 billion pounds in 2008-09, an increase of a third in real terms over the last decade."

At its annual conference this week the Prison Officers Association passed a vote of no confidence in Justice Secretary Ken Clarke and backed a motion for industrial action should "slashing and swingeing" cuts to pensions be imposed.

If at a later date the POA votes in favour holding of a strike ballot it will join teaching unions the NASUWT (250,000 members), the 300,000-member National Union of Teachers and 28,000-strong National Association of Head Teachers.

Next week the Public and Commercial Services union and Fire Brigade Union will also hold their annual conferences and debate motions to ballot, following a warning from the PCS last month they could strike within weeks.

Other unions say they plan to wait for the conclusion of talks over the proposed reform before voting on strikes, which would push any industrial action back to the autumn.

Six unions, including Prospect, GMB and the Police Federation have also launched a legal challenge to the government decision to link increases in pension benefits to the Consumer Price Index rather than the higher Retail Price Index.

"Not allowing the course of negotiations and the legal process to run their course may be difficult to explain," said Prospect Deputy General Secretary Dai Hudd.

"But if they do not come to a conclusion we feel able to consult members on, industrial action is inevitable. We are looking at September or October," he said.