Union anger over pensions plans

Research shows people view retirement at or before 65 as sacred

Local government workers could stage further strikes this autumn as part of union resistance to plans to raise the retirement age from 60 to 65.

Ministers want to increase pensionable ages of public sector workers to help deal with growing pension costs.

They say people live longer so claim pensions for greater periods of time.

Public sector union Unison's Malcolm Wing said they would "strongly resist" any compulsory increase in the retirement age.

Ongoing talks

There is thought to be a £29bn deficit in the local government pension scheme and talks continue between Deputy Prime Minister John Prescott, local government employers and unions on how to plug the gap.

The TUC's annual gathering in Brighton is due to take place the week beginning the 12 September, ministers and union negotiators are then due to meet on 21 September just ahead of Labour's conference.

The FT reports that Trade Secretary Alan Johnson has indicated he is prepared to delay the increase in the retirement age, scheduled for 2013, for a "few years".

But a DTI spokeswoman said there was "no detail at the moment" adding there were ongoing meetings between ministers and unions and there was a "general acceptance by all parties that things have got to change".

Prepared for failure

Unison chief negotiator Mr Wing said many public sector workers already opted to work on after reaching 60 and he argued that this flexibility should be preserved.

"We are all hoping the negotiations will succeed but we are preparing for them to fail - our members feel very strongly about their pensions," he added.

"We don't think the case has been made for increasing the retirement age."

Local government workers staged a one-day strike over pensions last October.