Contact London.
You're quite right to say that they can do it legally but they can also legally say we're going to freeze your pay for three years and you're either with us or against us! In the latter case I doubt reaction would be the same, although the long term financial could be less devastating! I thought that the one issue on which all members were prepared to undertake industrial action was that of our pension provision and so if we wouldn't put up with a pay freeze then why accept this unilateral holiday?
Having seen the TU circular on the issue it's apparent that the Past service Surplus reduced by 40% (from £563.3 million to £322.5 million) all by itself between 31 March and 30 September so why is it considered necessary to give it a further hand?
The TU side also quote the actuary as saying 'the question of future liability is not relevant'. Actuarially this may be correct but this assumes that TAG will honour their liability to make up any future deficit. Given that many large companies are now struggling with their pension burden I would suggest that this is questionable and they would look to closing the scheme to new members at the very least.
I think that the TU side may have seriously misjudged the situation but I hope I'm wrong.
