CBI must not be allowed to sabotage pension plans
TUC: 20 February 2006
Responding to the CBI's attack on the Pension Commission's recommendation to establish a National Pensions Savings Scheme (with a compulsory 3 per cent contribution from employers if employees do not opt out), TUC General Secretary Brendan Barber said: "As the Turner Commission's lucid analysis has made clear, a key contributor to the sharp fall in pensions coverage is the retreat by employers. Without some modest compulsion, the race to the bottom can only continue as good employers are undercut by the bad who refuse to provide a pension for staff.
"Adair Turner was a distinguished CBI Director-General. When he says that this is a modest contribution that businesses can afford, ministers should take him seriously and dismiss this special interest pleading. No one should forget the CBI's similarly dire predictions of the impact of the minimum wage.
"More worryingly is the clear CBI admission that employers will try to persuade staff to opt out of the NPSS. The government should be very clear that this will not be tolerated and should not allow the CBI to sabotage future pension plans."