RMT WELCOMES ‘POSITIVE STEPS’ ON LOCAL BUS POLICY AND PENSIONS

RMT helpline 0800 3763706 :: november/december 2008 :: RMTnews 10 R MT has welcomed new powers given to local authorities that will help to tackle some of the de-regulated free-for-all that has blighted the bus industry since its privatisation more than 20 years ago. The Local Transport Act gives local authorities greater control over service levels and quality, and envisages the creation of new Integrated Transport Authorities in major urban areas, which would also replace the six existing metropolitan transport authorities. RMT also welcomed an amendment to the Act ensuring full pension protection for bus workers transferred between employers in the deregulated bus market, as well as the right for unions to be consulted if a local authority wishes to introduce franchised bus services. However, the union also said that only full public ownership, funding and control could restore the bus industry to the pivotal role it should have in an integrated transport network. RMT general secretary Bob Crow said that in future years the Act would be seen as the first step towards restoring municipal ownership and putting an end to the profiteering of transport giants that convert huge sums in public subsidy into profits. “We will campaign to ensure that the Act helps to address the problems of low pay, long hours and poor working conditions that have also blighted the industry as a result of privatisation, and which have created a long-term recruitment problem. “Our own recent survey of bus workers found that only a quarter of felt secure in their job, that younger bus workers are becoming a rarity and that two-thirds said that the main reason workers left the industry was because of poor pay and conditions,” Bob Crow said. T ransport for London has confirmed that 8,734 current and former employees have periods of employment which have not been counted as pensionable and has agreed to compensate those workers that have missing periods of service. The missing periods concern: • Periods of Training – where the date of pension fund entry erroneously excludes the period of training upon entering employment; ie, the date of entry to the pension fund is the date of completing training not the actual date of employment commenced. • Fixed Term Contracts – Where employees were initially employed on a fixed term contract prior to becoming a permanent employee and the date of entry into the pension fund does not coincide with the date of moving from fixed term contractor to permanent employee, either because they were mistakenly issued with a fixed term contracts or because of an administrative error. TfL also indicated there are 5,698 members with missing periods of pensionable service during training. The missing service varies between one day and 147 days. The number of former fixed term contractors with missing pensionable service is 3036. For this group the missing service varies between one-hundred and fifty days to over a thousand days. TRAINING To obtain credit for missing Periods of Training individuals will be required to pay an amount calculated by the Fund Office. The amount payable by each individual varies according to the size of the missing period. However, the average amount over the whole system is approximately £90. FORMER FIXED TERM CONTRACTORS To obtain credit for any missing periods when moving from fixed term contractor to full time employee, individuals will be required to provide any piece of evidence of the date they moved to full-time employment; such as the offer letter to move to permanent employment. RECTIFICATION Employer contributions will be paid at the current rate of 6.1 times members’ contributions (ie for every £1 you pay the employer pays £6.10 – an all time high) rather than the rate applicable at the time of the error. The employer will also fund the administration costs. As well as the all-time high contribution rate, other benefits are as follows: • Employees will receive tax relief on their pension contribution at today’s tax rate rather than at the rate at the time their contributions should have been made • TfL will not adjust employees NI – thus increasing State Second Pension entitlement • TfL will not seek interest on employee pension contributions • Verifying documentation is not required for missing training periods. In recognition of the potential difficulty in meeting the cost involved, individuals will be allowed to pay over an extended period based on the number of weeks/years of missing service.ie where the missing period is 13 weeks, arrears may be paid over a 13 week period. The discrepancies came to light following an investigation pursued by unions through the TfL Pensions Working Group. RMT WELCOMES ‘POSITIVE STEPS’ ON LOCAL BUS POLICY AND PENSIONS TRANSPORT FOR LONDON PENSION VICTORY