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by smsm42 3405 days ago
My experience suggests the opposite - I've successfully effected change of my personal conditions several times, without help of any unions. So did many other people I know personally.

Of course, it is natural for union officials to see themselves as benevolent godlike figures distributing goods to the plebes. But this particular plebe is doing just fine without you and would like to continue as long as possible without any unions.

And BTW guess what I found as looking up BT pensions on Google?

https://www.ft.com/content/5505d45e-ac29-11e6-ba7d-76378e4fe... BT has second-worst funded pension scheme in the world

Are you sure you've told the members of your union about that? Who would be left holding the bag when this thing blows up? Would it be you, or would it be those thousands of people who got unfunded pension promises? Or would it be UK taxpayers who would be forced to pay for it?
2 comments
Apocryphon 3405 days ago
Sounds like unions are a creaky old institution that's ripe for an update. If only there was an industry that goes around innovating things.
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lostboys67 3403 days ago
Ah Lies dam lies and Pension valuations - the current pension valuation rules are designed by accountants to make it easy for companies to shut them down.

On one valuation the BTPS is in surpluss

Oh and I am an activist not a full timer ;-)

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smsm42 3395 days ago
How about this pack of lies? http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2017-02-28/ny-teamsters-pensio...

I'm sure these people were very happy with their union reps, and their union reps were very proud of it. Until it turned out their pensions are unfunded. And now the taxpayers have to pay their pensions.

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smsm42 3403 days ago
I didn't study the BT issue, but I read a bunch about how California did their pension valuations, and it's a circus. They basically just assume the fund would earn what they want, and project based on that. And needless to say, they assume they're market geniuses. And when it becomes dangerously underfunded, they just screw the newcomers - basically make a Ponzi scheme out of it by making new contributions finance the gaps for the old-timers and have new member to accept much worse conditions then the old ones.
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