THE recent article on pensions in Scotland on Sunday by Unison Scottish Secretary Matt Smith ('The real pensions divide is between rich and poor', March 29) is a typical response from another out of date trades union leader.
Smith and all the trades union leaders when asked about gold-plated public sector pensions change the subject by making reference to company directors' pensions to try and detract from this hot topic.
Why do they do so? Because they know th
at gold-plated public sector pensions are morally wrong and discriminate against those working in private industry.
I am a director of a small family business, in operation for 24 years. There are tens of thousands of company directors like myself who are not high earners or have massive pension schemes. They just happen to be a director of a small business.
The trades unions keep going on about the average local government pension of £3,800 a year. That is £3,800 a year better than the poorly paid in the private sector, who more often than not have no pension.
They claim pay is lower in the public sector. Yet, the average wage of state employees is £25,000 per year while the average wage of private sector workers is £22,500 per year. Therefore there must be tens of thousands more higher earners in the public sector than in the private sector which destroys the myth that all public sector employees are low paid.
As encouraged by the government, I have been saving money into my pension for the 24 years. Over this period, my pension pot has crashed in value three times due to economic conditions, yet somebody who works for the public sector will never see their pension fall in this way.
I pay taxes to fund gold-plated final salary pensions of public sector workers, yet they do not pay taxes to fund my personal pension. That is discrimination, and Matt Smith should know that getting somebody to fund your pension while you don't have to fund their pension in return is morally wrong.
Public sector workers pay lower national insurance throughout their working live than the rest of us, which is also unfair. And they do not have to pay to get financial advisers to look after their pensions, which is another cost they escape.
My small company pays in direct taxes to the Government, employer's national insurance, business rates, VAT and corporation tax, which all help to fund state employees pensions.
After paying all these taxes, there is not enough money left for our company to give our staff or myself the same gold-plated pensions that these public sector workers enjoy. It is morally wrong to make our company pay taxes to fund public sector pensions at a higher rate than we can afford to fund for our own staff pensions.
Matt Smith made reference to company directors' being able to retire at 60. There are very few company directors' who will be able to retire at 60, yet a higher proportion of public sector workers do retire at age 60 or earlier due to generous early retirement arrangements.
If the Government reduced public sector pensions by a third, as many in the private sector have recently seen their pensions slashed, the public sector trades unions would be calling for workers to go out on strike.
How can the unions justify expecting employees who have just watched their pensions cut by a third, continue to pay for guaranteed salary-linked pension for others?
Isn't there an equally compelling case to be made, that those with guaranteed pensions should be forced into higher taxes or contributions, to support those in the private sector hit by these big losses? Yet, if the government attempted such a move the public sector trades unions would call their members out on strike bringing public services to a halt.
This unequal pension situation cannot and will not be allowed to continue. Pensions have to be fair, equal and funded by all workers fairly and equally.
The Government knows only too well that public sector final salary pensions are unsustainable, but nothing will be done to right this unjust and unfair discrimination of the private sector until after the next general election. It is called vote catching. The Government does not want to lose public sector votes by cutting their pensions. But believe me, public sector pensions will have to be cut or they will bankrupt the country.
The best advice I could give to anybody is never start a small business, get a job working in the public sector where you will be able retire at 60 or earlier on a full final salary pension paid for by workers in the private sector.
That's what you call a gold-plated final salary pension.
• George McCleery is managing director of printing and media company Capscan
