Trade Union International of Pensioners and Retirees of the World Federation of Trade Unions in Denmark, 20 July 2016

Contribution by Lily Kerr (Workers’ Party of Ireland)

Comrades,

I am Lily Kerr from the Workers Party of Ireland. We are proud to participate in this important  conference  and   we   salute  the organisers. Pensioners across the world have every right to feel fearful of what the future will bring under the capitalist system which is currently in crisis.Not  only  for us  as  pensioners  but for our  families,  friends  and  the  entire working  class, we are being forced to bear the brunt of the crisis caused by the greedy bankers, who have been bailed out by the state in the North and South of Ireland , and who have quickly reverted to type and are once again  awarding themselves  large bonuses, while   our  Governments   are  forcing  through austerity measures that impact  most severely on households with the lowest incomes.

Lily Kerr, Workers Party, South Belfast

It is often claimed that older people have got off lightly, but there is a body of research which proves that this is a myth, and in reality along with lone parents and their children, pensioners, especially women, are among the poorest in our society.Statistics indicate that large numbers of pensioners live in persistent poverty. Pensioners differ from the working age population in having no opportunity to increase their incomes in the future, so those that are poor remain so, while those on slightly higher incomes face a decline in to poverty as they age, due to inadequate pension provisions.

Private pensions which have been hailed as the way forward for the future cannot fill the gap in the declining value of state pensions; they merely exploit the low paid, the vulnerable, the poor and the needy in order to generate profits for multinational companies. Private sector schemes have been closed or scaled back and the public sector schemes are under constant attacks by our governments, and no account has been taken of the fact that most average public sector workers do not retire with large pension pots, that is the privilege of senior managers within the sector.

Women are now being forced to work longer before they can retire and are losing thousands of pounds in the process. This is being done supposedly in the name of equality so that men and women have the same retirement age. In a socialist society the retirement age for men would and should be lowered to ensure equality.

Comrades, we must fight together to eradicate such divisions and secure a state pension which is sufficient to allow us to live useful and dignified lives.

Comrades, where I live there has been a draft “Active Ageing Strategy” which was published in 2014 that was supposed to make us an “age-friendly region” where older people are allegedly valued and supported to live actively to their fullest potential with their rights and dignity protected; sadly, no final version of this strategy has ever been published.

Older people are constantly being made to feel that they are a burden on the state and our ageing population is often portrayed  in a negative way, with talk of a  crisis within public services if support services or health services have to be provided, with the cost of such provision being used to privatise domiciliary care, home care and residential care which results in the lowering of pay and terms and conditions of employment for the workers, who are mainly women, and a much reduced service to older people. We are being increasingly viewed as a commodity to be bought and sold by the private sector and when providing services is no longer profitable the private companies close down, leaving the elderly and their families in crisis.

Day centres and other services and facilities such as free travel are constantly under threat of being removed, which will clearly increase the sense of social isolation. Older people often feel that they are excluded from the life of society and that society does not recognise the contribution that older people are still able to make.

Comrades, we must fight to change the thought processes in society that believe that giving us a pension is enough. We must highlight the many other issues that are being ignored in relation to older people, for example, the ageist language that is being used as to how we vote, and some are suggesting that we should no longer be allowed to vote, or that there should be an upper age limit on our eligibility to vote, in other words we as older people should be denied our rights as citizens in a democratic society.

We also have to challenge the notion that as we get older we are no longer subject to all of the other problems faced by the rest of society, such as domestic violence. The lack of specialist services means older victims are less likely to seek help with violence and abuse, and are more likely to suffer from depression and anxiety, can become heavy drinkers and experience alcohol dependency and a reliance on prescription drugs in order to cope with the isolation and fear.

We much sent out a clear message from this conference today that we have demands and they must be acted on and as a minimum we expect:

• The right to a decent and adequate state pension.
• The right to all other social benefits.
• The right to live free from poverty.
• The right to live in peace and to live free from domestic and other forms of violence and abuse.
• The right to fully funded mental health services.
• The right to have access to alcohol and drug addiction services.
• The right to a decent home.
• The right to adequate health and social care provision.
• The right to life- long learning and continuing education.
• The right to live free from social exclusion.
• The right to live free from discrimination in all its forms.
• The right to fully participate in all aspects of society.
• The right to quality affordable leisure time.

Comrades, we know these rights will not be granted in full under the capitalist system, so we must organise across all sections of society and educate our class, the working class, so that they understand only  socialism  can deliver such rights.