{"id":19553,"date":"2019-11-26T15:18:41","date_gmt":"2019-11-26T15:18:41","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/unitelive.org\/?p=19553"},"modified":"2020-11-12T12:54:52","modified_gmt":"2020-11-12T12:54:52","slug":"unite-labour-pensioners-pledge-card","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/?p=19553","title":{"rendered":"‘Time for dignity in retirement’"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/div>\n

Pensioners will benefit from a raft of Labour policies \u00e2\u20ac\u201c including free personal care and the restoration of thousands of bus routes \u00e2\u20ac\u201c which the party unveiled on Tuesday (November 26).<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Forming what Labour has dubbed its \u00e2\u20ac\u0098pensioners pledge card\u00e2\u20ac\u2122<\/a>, the policies will commit the party to investing \u00c2\u014110.8bn in social care and will reverse the Tories\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 scrapping of the free TV licence for over-75s.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The party has also pledged to keep the free bus pass for pensioners, and will moreover invest in warm homes for all by committing to installing insulation in every home.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Setting out in detail its pensioners pledge card, shadow chancellor John McDonnell said that a Labour government would restore 3,000 bus routes that have been axed under successive Tory governments and would give councils the right to regulate buses again.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

And righting a burning injustice for far too many women pensioners, Labour has pledged to compensate the roughly four million women in their 50s<\/a> who have lost out unfairly after the state pension age was changed without fair notice from the government.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Labour will also address pension injustices for ex-miners<\/a>, who under John Major\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s Tory government, were hit by what the party says was an unfair restructuring of the Mineworkers\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 Pension Scheme.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Under that restructuring, any surplus in the pension scheme was split 50\/50 between ex-miners and the government. Labour said this \u00e2\u20ac\u0098skimming of 50 per cent off the mineworkers\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 pensions schemes\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 must end and should be rebalanced, so that workers\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 keep 90 per cent of any surplus.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Meanwhile, the Tories\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 offer to pensioners sounds familiar because it is \u00e2\u20ac\u201c under the Conservative manifesto, retired people will essentially only receive the same benefits they already have. Boris Johnson has remained silent on compensating the WASPI women and has given no indication the Tories will row back on their plan to scrap the free TV licence for over-75s.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Launching Labour\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s pensioners pledge card on Tuesday, McDonnell said, \u00e2\u20ac\u015bLabour\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s new pledge card sets out our offer to restore dignity and proper support for older people after being abandoned by the Conservatives.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bOlder people have had their pensions threatened under the Tories and nearly four million women born in the 1950s had their pensions robbed,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 he added.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bThe scandalous state of the care system is perhaps the biggest crisis facing our country. Labour will build a new National Care Service with free care for those who need it at the heart.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Commenting on Labour\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s latest offering to pensioners, Unite retired member Eamonn Murphy hailed in particular the party\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s plan to insulate homes for all.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bLast year 50,100 excess winter deaths were recorded \u00e2\u20ac\u201c the highest number since records began in 1976,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 Eamonn highlighted. \u00e2\u20ac\u015bThis is not acceptable for the fifth richest country in the world \u00e2\u20ac\u201c \u00e2\u20ac\u0098eat or heat\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 should not be an option.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Unite assistant general secretary Steve Turner likewise praised Labour\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s pensioner pledge card.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bThis is a fantastic offer for pensioners and demonstrates that only Labour is on the side of the elderly in this election,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 he said. \u00e2\u20ac\u015bIt\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s time for dignity in retirement.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bFrom social and personal care to access to free bus travel, warm homes to the ending of pensioner poverty and the shameful discrimination of the WASPI women,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 Turner added.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bLabours pledge card addresses a plethora of issues which disgracefully deny pensioners dignity in retirement. Following a lifetime in work, building the foundations of modern Britain, they deserve better. Only Labour will ensure this.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Pensioners will benefit from a raft of Labour policies \u00e2\u20ac\u201c including free personal care and the restoration of thousands of bus routes \u00e2\u20ac\u201c which the party unveiled on Tuesday (November 26).   Forming what Labour has dubbed its \u00e2\u20ac\u0098pensioners pledge card\u00e2\u20ac\u2122, the policies will commit the party to investing \u00c2\u014110.8bn in social care and will […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":18218,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[173,1257],"wps_subtitle":"Unite welcomes Labour\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s pensioners pledge card","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19553"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=19553"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19553\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":24844,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19553\/revisions\/24844"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/18218"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=19553"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=19553"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=19553"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}