Public Sector strikes today

[Dell Boy]

I can't see another thread on this so I'll dive in....

"Public sector workers are going on strike in what trade unions claim is the biggest mass walkout since 2011, in a series of disputes over pay and other issues. Unions representing teachers, firefighters, civil servants and local government staff, among others, have organised the walkout."

Any thoughts out there?

There appear to be a variety of issues being put forward as reasons for striking but they mostly seem to concentrate on pay and pensions.

As someone that works for themselves and has been trying to keep a company going these last few years in the recession I don't have an ounce of sympathy for these public sector workers.

They largely have cushy jobs for life - okay the pay isn't great but then it's a free market so they can move about as they wish either out of the sector or go for free training and promotions. The pensions still rate as a lot better than the average working person gets in this country.

Time for a poll....

 

[Deleted member 28206]

I give this 3 pages.

 

[bluemangroup]

@Clint Planet

 

[Mikey_Fitzgerald]

Didn't even know it had happened until someone told me at work

 

[Tubey]

Put bins out.

Weren't collected.

Fuming here.

 

[Ihaters]

I can't see another thread on this so I'll dive in....

"Public sector workers are going on strike in what trade unions claim is the biggest mass walkout since 2011, in a series of disputes over pay and other issues. Unions representing teachers, firefighters, civil servants and local government staff, among others, have organised the walkout."

Any thoughts out there?

There appear to be a variety of issues being put forward as reasons for striking but they mostly seem to concentrate on pay and pensions.

As someone that works for themselves and has been trying to keep a company going these last few years in the recession I don't have an ounce of sympathy for these public sector workers.

They largely have cushy jobs for life - okay the pay isn't great but then it's a free market so they can move about as they wish either out of the sector or go for free training and promotions. The pensions still rate as a lot better than the average working person gets in this country.

Time for a poll....

You clearly know nothing of public sector work. If you leave say the council you work for, you lose a lot pension rights, so you tend to stay as long as possible as the pension is the only positive to working in public sector.
Pay has been frozen for several years now with a yearly rise of roughly 1% which we tend to get months later due to arguments by the unions, so its a year on year paycut for jobs that were applied for that have changed considerably, have no benefits, jeopardise the pensions and are at risk on a daily basis.

Without these public servants you would not be able to operate on a basic level, the training has always been job specific, though now the funding has gone for even that, so essentially the people remaining are there because they care about the area they live in, and they want to help make a difference as best as they can. It would be nice if we could afford to live whist doing it though.

As someone who works for the highways department, if the current staff left and newbies came in who didn't care/have any experience, the roads would decay at a far more rapid rate, people would not be able to get to work, accidents would happen more frequently, the wrong surface types, grit routes, lineage, grass cutting would occur, the fight against Japanese Knotweed would be well and truly lost and road works would not be planned as well as they are, pot holes unfilled, PRoW unmaintained and so on and so on, that's one part of Highways... cover that across the whole of Environment, then expand across the whole of the council, and you might start to realise that the private sector isn't just about phoning up to claim your council tax.

The jobs we do are vital to the safety and wellbeing of the public, if they are not then chances are you've been sacked by now. This cushy job you talk of is low paid, high skilled and vital with increasing workloads as more and more people are removed from the offices.

Don't think its too much to ask for a rise in line with even half of inflation if only to lessen the year on year paycuts.

Bills go up 10%+, wages go up 0.5 or 1%, people get annoyed, its good to see someone doing something about it. Brave of them to put a break in their pension to do this protest and all that entails. Can't afford to strike myself or I would.

 

[PITA]

Just to make it clear, pay rises in the private sector are not automatic. In fact for the last few years they haven't existed where I work.

 

[Ihaters]

Just to make it clear, pay rises in the private sector are not automatic. In fact for the last few years they haven't existed where I work.

Yeah but you get paid more as standard that the public sector, the pay rises will never match the basic wages of the private sector, but it may close the gap slightly.

 

[larrygobfiend]

We don't know we're born in the UK.

Granted, we've all taken a bit of a hit financially over the last few years of austerity, but ultimately, we have it good compared to a hell of a lot of countries.

 

[Dell Boy]

Yeah but you get paid more as standard that the public sector, the pay rises will never match the basic wages of the private sector, but it may close the gap slightly.

I've quoted this rather than your original post to make it a bit tidier. Firstly to be clear I'm not saying I don't appreciate that some public sector workers are very good at their job and undoubtedly deserve more money.

As I get older I become more and more an unashamed capitalist. If you or the guy next to you isn't getting paid enough for the job they do then they should leave and find something better. Why isn't it that simple? Then that job vacancy would have to be filled and the powers that be might realise they have to up the grade to get someone in etc.

I deal with councils all the time in my job and the culture and environment is so different. That and the pensions etc are presumably taken into account when someone makes a decision to take the job in the first place.

The whole idea of automatic annual wage increases is mad to me. Sorry if that sounds harsh but it should be down to the individual and an annual appraisal. If someone performs well then pay them accordingly. If they're not then require them to do extra training etc and if they're still poor performers in six months time then sack their sorry arses.

Teachers are probably the ones that get me the most. Sitting there as they used to getting annual pay increases with no account taken of their specific performance. No wonder standards have slipped. I know it's changed a bit now but it's still far too cushy in my opinion.

 

[larrygobfiend]

I've quoted this rather than your original post to make it a bit tidier. Firstly to be clear I'm not saying I don't appreciate that some public sector workers are very good at their job and undoubtedly deserve more money.

As I get older I become more and more an unashamed capitalist. If you or the guy next to you isn't getting paid enough for the job they do then they should leave and find something better. Why isn't it that simple? Then that job vacancy would have to be filled and the powers that be might realise they have to up the grade to get someone in etc.

I deal with councils all the time in my job and the culture and environment is so different. That and the pensions etc are presumably taken into account when someone makes a decision to take the job in the first place.

The whole idea of automatic annual wage increases is mad to me. Sorry if that sounds harsh but it should be down to the individual and an annual appraisal. If someone performs well then pay them accordingly. If they're not then require them to do extra training etc and if they're still poor performers in six months time then sack their sorry arses.

Teachers are probably the ones that get me the most. Sitting there as they used to getting annual pay increases with no account taken of their specific performance. No wonder standards have slipped. I know it's changed a bit now but it's still far too cushy in my opinion.

Did you just drop the T bomb?

 

[peteblue]

Did anyone notice........

 

[tsubaki]

Hard to decide what was the most annoying thing about today, whether it was hearing Francis Maude et al chirp on about how much this strike would hurt "the vulnerable in society" (ie: those who have been clobbered by the spare room subsidy, the attacks on DSA, those who have seen the effect of immigration ruining terms and conditions for the lower levels of the employment market* etc), or Gove claiming that teachers were just striking for their own terms and conditions rather than putting the best interests of children first.

Probably the worst though was the realization that, whilst austerity goes on for everyone who actually has a meaningful job in and out of the private sector, the thieves at the top continue to coin it in.

* this is not an attack on immigrants, but rather an attack on those who have directly encouraged immigration and tolerated the massive exploitation of immigrants and people already here in order to keep wages down

 

[Bruce Wayne]

I saw an old fire engine go past earlier that was owned/being used by the trade union for firemen. They had music blaring out of it so you could hear them from way down the street. I'm not sure burn baby burn, disco inferno was a particularly wise choice of song if they're all out on strike.

 

[bluemangroup]

Did anyone notice........

Yes.