You don’t get me, I’m part of the union
Some say those old belligerent unions are gone. Not me. Because I keep reading stories about the CBI. Today the CBI is objecting to the proposals from the Turner commission that companies should have to contribute 3% to employees’ pensions. Employees will have a choice of investing in their own future, but the CBI would also like employers to have a similar say over their employees’ nest egg. This free choice of employers to halve their staff’s retirement fund is apparently “an equal right” and, weirdly, “will deliver more pension value”.
Certainly any pension contribution would be a financial hit on a business, but the CBI’s claim that pension contribution “could put [a company] out of business” just reeks of old-school union shouting tactics. There’s a veneer of dialogue there, but the essential message is one of protectionism.
The CBI calls itself a “lobbying organisation for UK business”. But it’s effectively a union for employers, and an unreformed pre-Thatcherite union at that.
