Proposer: Audel Shirin
To no one’s surprise the new, newer new Labour government and current prime minister U-turned on its promise to compensate women born in the 1950s, robbed of their state pensions and forced to work until the age of 65 and in some cases longer.
As a matter of principle these women deserve our party’s support as the goal posts were moved again and again from 60 to 63, to 65 and then 66 and they were deceived by a dishonest government in the last elections with regards to compensation.
It was not a pledge to give government handouts it was a broken promise to give these women what was due to them for the hard work they did and the money they paid in just to have it all swept from underneath them.
The PHSO recommended compensation for lack of notice and in response the government acknowledged this and issued a sorry. No state pension would also equal no winter fuel allowance, no free senior citizen pass for public transport , delays accessing other benefits and reductions causing a detrimental impact both financially and socially to the life of these women and their retirement plans.
When ex-prime ministers say we are all in it together it appears when it comes to sacrifices some of us are disproportionately burdened a lot more than others and WASPI women certainly fall into that category.
These women were forced to cancel their retirement plans and continue working sometimes in physically demanding jobs.
Their struggle is our struggle and is emblematic of a system that disregards the working class while handing out billions to bail out the banks and their super rich friends and corporations.
What this motion seeks is for the worlds sixth largest national economy to give redress and compensate these hard working women for the pensions that were taken away from them. In France pension age is 62 In Iran it is 55 for women or younger if they have done 20 years continuous work and here it is 67 and don’t forget some of these women would have started working from the age of 15.
This motion reaffirms our commitment to justice and fighting for those betrayed by a broken system. This motion aligns with our manifesto where we promised to undertake a major review of pensions policy to give workers the option to retire at 60.
The WASPI women deserve more than our words they deserve justice now. No more robbing the many, working class, to pay for the failures of the rich few.
I second motion 25.
Excellent motion, full support to WASPI women!