I can understand why people would be upset about losing a Final Salary Pension but to strike over it is counter productive, especially in the current economic climate.

Is prehaps the indication that they need to cancel these types of pension to improve their finances not an indicator that if they don't the employees might not haver a job to strike about.

It's a recession people, stop being greedy and suck it up otherwise it'll only get worse, be thankful you have a job cause not even a Union is going to save you from a economy hitting the bottom.

> I can understand why people would be upset about losing a Final Salary Pension but to strike over it is counter productive, especially in the current economic climate.

I understand what you're saying, and if they had said 'everyone takes a 5% pay cut until things improve, or mass redundancies' then I'd have less sympathy for the dissenters. However, shutting the final salary scheme is permanent. You can bet that CSC won't give it back once the economy swings back to a boom cycle.

"It's a recession people, stop being greedy and suck it up otherwise it'll only get worse, be thankful you have a job cause not even a Union is going to save you from a economy hitting the bottom."

Intriguingly one might suggest that it it is a Union which will cause many people to _stop_ having a job.

Step forward, the Communication Workers Union, that hangover from the 1970s...!

One more to add to the list of companies facing action from their employees, the sooner these companies get a slapping the quicker everyone get back to work. Employees are the corner stone of any company and shouldn't be treated like disposable assets, while fat cat management milk huge salaries and bonuses. Maybe the country grinding to a halt will make everybody sit up and come to an amicable conclusion.

For most people in a final salary pension scheme, the pension provision would have been a significant factor in taking the job in the first place. The pension is a form of deferred remuneration, after all. For companies to tell employees who have given them years of loyal service that they intend in effect to rob them of even a part of that deferred remuneration is just that: robbery.

In many cases the only reason that these pension schemes are "unaffordable" is that the companies chose to take extended contribution holidays while the economy was booming and stock price inflation looked like it would more than cover their pension liabilities. Predictably this has now come back to bite them in a big way, but due to weak legislation they are able to simply push the pain onto their employees.

It all stinks.

I think this recession is a lot of companies 'get-out-of-jail-free' card when it comes to FSP, I don't know of many companies that want to keep them, they are a costly pension, I'd bet my house on all of these companies that withdraw the FSP will not be re-introducing them.

I consider myself lucky that I still work for an employer that has them (although for how long is another story).

Unions are a throwback that could definately be thrown out. I think the greed attitude definately stems from the Union rather than the employee, in the case of the Royal Mail, it's a shame that the moderisation programme will make some people redunant but it's a 'break a few eggs to make an omlette' senario, the omlette being the continuation of Royal Mail as a business.