Public Sector - Pensions

Background

A major public sector employer proposes to modify staff pension arrangements due to increasing unaffordability, thereby provoking industrial unrest and strike action.

Outcome

The mediation, attended by senior politicians and trade union reps, promotes understanding of the pressures on both sides, and facilitates joint exploration of solutions for similar problems in other sectors. The resulting compromise, which meets politicians’ public spending pledges and is seen by union reps as consistent with other sectors, is in due course approved by staff ballot, averting industrial action.