The Workers have re-recorded the classic song Let’s Work Together as a charity track that celebrates everything that is good about the public sector and raises money for today’s pensioners. The Workers are 14-strong band of public sector workers and include firefighter and FBU member Steve White.
Steve’s message ahead of the day of action on 30 November: “My pension is my deferred earnings, my payback for a career in public service, and I pay for it three times over. I pay my pension contributions, pay tax on my income, which supports my employer’s contribution, and I’ll pay tax on my pension income when I retire. It’s not unreasonable to expect a fair pension on that basis.”
A fair pension is very important to Steve. He’s angry at the lies that have been told about ‘gold-plated pensions’ and the affordability of public sector pensions, or even that we need to tighten our belts to fund the budget deficit. If we can afford to go to war in Afghanistan we can afford pensions for public sector workers. If we can afford to bail out the banks that caused the crash, and enable them to continue paying bonuses, we can afford public sector pensions.
Steve believes that if the very richest people in this country continue to get richer, whilst ordinary working people have less and less money to buy the basics, then there’s something fundamentally wrong.
The FBU is not striking on 30 November, but Steve will be supporting other workers during the day of action.
