Unite’s assistant general secretary Gail Cartmail, who also took part in the recent talks with the government over public sector pensions, said: “There was a serious risk that the talks could have broken down after Danny Alexander took the decision to try to negotiate through the media. However, we continue to negotiate in good faith but remain convinced that we must make progress on pension contributions, indexation and pension age for our members to find any changes acceptable.
"The government still wants our members to pay more and work longer – it refuses to make any compromises.
"There has been no movement from the government on pension contribution increases, the link to the rising state pensions and the unions remain at odds with the government over the inflation link change from RPI to CPI.”
The government’s approach to negotiations also infuriated the FDA, the senior civil service union, whose general secretary Jonathan Baume said: “The Treasury is simply fixed on raising their £2.8 billion pensions' levy, and seems to have no genuine interest in a long-term, sustainable agreement on the future of public sector pension provision.”
While it represents far fewer members than the other unions, the FDA’s decision to be mandated for a strike ballot at its annual conference is another sign that an autumn of strike action is looming.
