IWW Fellow Worker wrote:
This will cheer you up (well, it certainly cheered me up!), our DUM told me this morning how downhearted managers are becoming since they realised they won't be able to afford to retire at 60. He said they were starting to come around to the idea that RM will be after the managers very soon. He also said they don't get grandfather rights if their start times change. This is from a man I scarely speak to unless I have to, so they must be really down in the dumps. I'll wait and see if they're fired up enough not to scab during our strikes, but him and his chums aren't as cocky as they were a few weeks ago.
Had a similar chat with my Line Manager yesterday morning. He was chatting to two guys, one of whom will lose only 2 days pay in the 48-hour stoppages. Lino says to me about how I stand to lose 3 days pay, but he wasn't saying it in an antagonistic way, he did seem genuinely concerned at the financial position it puts me in. I told him that though I have my doubts about whether we can get RM to back down on the pension proposals, I'm sure as hell going to back the strike. Told him that I don't want to still be getting up for work at age 64, with still a further 12 months to do after that before I can retire. I planned to have the mortgage paid off a couple of years before retirement, and leave aged 60 to enjoy the freedom from being shackled to my job. If I didn't go out on these strikes, I'd always wonder
if maybe this proposals could have been blocked, had all of us had the courage to take a short-term hit in pay. (I pointed out that losing pay now is a drop in the ocean, as if these plans go through, I've got FIVE EXTRA YEARS to make back the £150 lost. That's less than 60p a week). He said how much his plans revolved around the assumption of retiring at 60, and that of course the managers are affected by this also, and he understands my stance
There's one CMA member who looks set to vote for a strike, if their toothless 'union' actually ballot them on the pension proposals
