Issue brief - Pensions in collective bargaining

In the DTI Success at Work strategy paper, the government announced that it would explore the case for adding occupational pensions to the statutory union recognition procedure. This is because the government claims that there is now evidence from the 2004 Workplace Employment Relations Survey (WERS 2004) that pensions have become an increasingly common subject for collective bargaining and consultation between employer and trade unions.

EEF is lobbying to prevent the extension of the statutory union collective bargaining agenda to cover occupational pensions. We are opposed to the proposal for a number of reasons:

· We challenge the government’s assertion that pensions are now a common subject for collective bargaining between employers and trade unions. This is certainly not true for the majority of EEF members, who have expressed strong opposition to this proposal, and does not seem to be confirmed by other surveys, including a recent one from the TUC;

· This proposal would create real practical problems for employers with occupational pension schemes at a time when these schemes are facing severe pressures and it could be yet another reason why some employers might decide to move away from providing occupational pensions for their employees.