Mar 15 - Unite Responds To GSD's Hassan-Nahon's Criticism Of MP's Pensions
Unite the Union notes the comments made by GSD MP Marlene Hassan-Nahon in respects to the statements made by our Pension’s Coordinator, Albert Hewitt, on the issue of MPs pensions.
A spokesman for the union said: "It is a sorry state of affairs in the first instance that Ms Hassan-Nahon has sought to personalise the issue in Mr Hewitt’s person given that his views are not only his individual views but those shared by the organisation. It is lamentable that the personalisation of an issue is manifest in Ms Hassan-Nahon’s discourse as a politician in respects to Bro. Hewitt, a non-politician, who, furthermore, enjoys the full confidence of Unite and its membership, irrespective of his political inclinations as he has proved in the past, holding Unite and its membership in the highest regard.
"Ms Hassan-Nahon ought to note however that this union will refrain from personalising the issue on her person and her history, which we could, unlike she’s done, and advise her to focus on issues of public importance such as the provision of contributory pensions in the private sector, which will benefit the many over the few.
"In respects to the issue at hand, Unite’s position on the matter is that politicians should not have a privileged status over and above that of other public sector workers; that equality should be the order of the day and that this should have been the case in 2011 when the previous administration changed the pension entitlements to new entrants to the public sector. We have highlighted this discrepancy since and are pleased for it to have materialised now.
"Whether Ms Hassan-Nahon and her colleagues feel hard done by is not an issue of substance for this union but an issue to be debated between both parties. We note however, that politicians asking for preferential or privileged treatment over and above that of their peers, no matter the loophole, could be accused of being in politics for the wrong reasons, that of personal gain over public service.
"We take the opportunity to further highlight that the changes implemented in respects to MPs pensions does not mean that Ms Hassan-Nahon is out of a pension, but that she receives the same pension as thousands of her constituents working in the public sector. If she were coherent with her letter, and supposedly the values she alleges the GSD espoused in 2011, she should be content with her pension, unless, and quoting Orwell, “All animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than others”."
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