Pensions Dispute: All quiet?

November 30th saw massive support for co-ordinated action. The Coalition’s assumptions about public opinion appeared to be not entirely accurate.
The pension dispute by definition is complex. Different unions and different groups of workers with differing pension schemes. The unions each need to discuss the detail on behalf of their members.
But people picketed and marched about more than the detail. Working longer, paying more and getting less: the demonstrations were also about broader opposition to austerity.
Through-out December and into the New Year the unions have been attempting to move the UK government towards meaningful discussion on the detail. This has been a difficult task but the dispute is about more than this.
The coming year will require the building of alliances, and building them quickly, if the further planned cuts are to be re-thought. To do this the unions need to re-win the participation of their membership. It is the voices of the members and the communities they live in that need to heard.