UK: England’s Biggest Teaching Unions Have Said They Cannot Accept Government Reforms to Teachers’ Pensions.
7th January 2012
Here is a very nice illustration of the point I made earlier.
(1) Why is the government involved in teachers’ pensions? Because the government pays the teachers, and their pensions. Why is the government paying the teachers? Because in the centralized state that is modern Britain, government controls (and pays for) education. That makes teacher pay — and teacher pensions — a political issue.
(2) Why is the government trying to ‘reform’ teacher pensions? Because they are running out of money, and can’t keep the (ridiculously generous) promises they may earlier. Does the fact that the government eventually won’t have any money with which to pay for teacher pensions at the current level matter to the teachers? Not a shred — hence the language that they ‘cannot accept’ said reform. Since the government is running out of money, how do the teachers get off saying what they will or won’t ‘accept’? Because the teachers vote, and Britain is a Modern Democracy, in which pressure groups rule.
The message from the teacher unions is, essentially, ‘We don’t care that you won’t have the money to pay for these pensions, we want them anyway, and you WILL preserve our right to them, or you elected politicians will be out of a job, because the reality is that you will have an uncertain number of people who like you and a large block of people who hate your guts come next election time. If you cut our pensions, you lose your job. Take whatever action you think appropriate.’ And history shows us that the number of elected politicians who can do the right thing in the face of that threat is negligible.
Dystopia arrives, not on little cat feet, but in great big boots, with spike heels and steel toes.