Arwel Roberts

I was doing quite well not using Twitter, but this matter has dented that. FBU national officer Mark Rowe has sent out an extremely important circular with vital practical advice for members affected by the 2015 pensions debacle. The circular can be found at fbu.org.uk/circulars/2025hoc… The circular ALSO reports a letter sent to the Deputy Prime Minister ... it is interesting and a good development. But the circular does far more than report the despatch of a letter. The circular provides excellent information and advice to members caught up in the RSS pensions mess. I am at a loss as to why the PRACTICAL ADVICE has not been at the forefront of the union's social media messaging. It is ACTION not PR that is the primary issue. The Circular explains the processes to get a resolution in an extremely accessible way. As importantly it provides a template letter which members should use to initiate the process. The more members take this action A. Protects themselves individually, and B. Will assist the union in achieving a generic solution, because it will provide an incentive to 'the system' to deal with it centrally and quickly than via the time-consuming and more costly process of dealing with individual complaints. The union has put a huge amount of work in its battle to achieve the pension success and to have it implemented for individual members by government and pension and administrators. This hard graft was commenced by national officer Sean Starbuck prior to him going but for the last few years has been undertaken tirelessly by national officer Mark Rowe. Both of them have struggled against the prevarication and incompetence by the relevant government officials and ministers and relevant other parties. The advice in the circular should be brought to every relevant member's attention. That isn't just the job for union officials at all levels. It's the job of every member to do that to ensure that the message gets through. Don't leave it to someone else! It's better that affected members have it brought to their attention 20 times rather than not at all.