TUCwill debate pension scheme

A motion calling for all construction workers to have the right of access to an industry-wide pension scheme is to be debated at the TUC conference, which opens in Blackpool on 14 September.

The move comes in the absence of any single employer scheme for pensions.

A resolution submitted by the Union of Construction, Allied Trades and Technicians (Ucatt) welcomes Government proposals for stakeholder pensions. It says the pensions could play an essential role in extending second-tier pensions.

The Ucatt motion calls on the TUC general council to press for state-sanctioned stakeholder pensions which:

l provide access to industry-wide schemes;

l require all employers and workers to contribute at adequate minimum levels;

l require membership as a compulsory condition of employment in the case of employer-sponsored schemes;

l industry schemes to be portable with easily transferable benefits;

l trade unions to have an integral role in industry schemes.

Employers in the Construction Confederation have agreed to examine the feasibility of a building and civil engineering industry pension scheme, probably through the B&CE benefits company.