Strike

Deleted member 28206 · November 22, 2011

I have to take a day off next week because my daughters school are striking.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2011/nov/14/pension-reforms-civil-servants-strike

I've just read most FDA workers face a 6% pay cut over 3 years, approx £50 a month for circa £30k a year workers, and they are not guaranteed a solid gold pension anymore.

My heart bleeds. " high cost of living and A pay freeze" welcome to the private sector!

er.. Fight the Power anyway lids.

chicoazul · November 22, 2011

Why do you want to deprive them of what they're entitled to though mate?
GUEVARA
Private sector envy shouldn't be wishing poorer pay and conditions for those in the public sector. The terms that they signed up for the job on should be honoured.

Woolly Blue · November 22, 2011

Bryan said:
I have to take a day off next week because my daughters school are striking.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2011/nov/14/pension-reforms-civil-servants-strike

I've just read most FDA workers face a 6% pay cut over 3 years, approx £50 a month for circa £30k a year workers, and they are not guaranteed a solid gold pension anymore.

My heart bleeds. " high cost of living and A pay freeze" welcome to the private sector!

er.. Fight the Power anyway lids.

I don't normally have a lot of sympathy with teachers, but a pay freeze with inflation running at ~5% hurts mate. The extra ~ 1.25% on their pensions at the same time, along with a switch to CPI, is taking the wotsit, especially when the pension changes are nothing to do with the pensions being unaffordable but are, like the pay freeze, being done to cut the deficit.

Unless they choose a different profession or go to work for a private school then teachers don't really have the option of moving to a different company to get better pay ( much the same can be said for nurses too )

Tubey · November 22, 2011

I have quite a bit of sympathy for the teachers. They're underpaid as it is and it's harsh in the extreme to enforce these further pay freezes and cuts on them whilst the Tories continue to leave bankers and massive earners pretty much untouched.

Medical staff such as nurses etc. should be furious too. I have little to no sympathy with DWP staff (admin etc.) as their role is non-vital and they're generally overpaid already. I should know, I used to be in the public sector and I felt I was robbing taxpayers by simply having a job there.

Deleted member 28206 · November 23, 2011

chicoazul said:
Why do you want to deprive them of what they're entitled to though mate?
GUEVARA
Private sector envy shouldn't be wishing poorer pay and conditions for those in the public sector. The terms that they signed up for the job on should be honoured.

Signed a deal with the devil

Bruce Wayne · November 23, 2011

Tubey said:
I have quite a bit of sympathy for the teachers. They're underpaid as it is and it's harsh in the extreme to enforce these further pay freezes and cuts on them whilst the Tories continue to leave bankers and massive earners pretty much untouched.

Medical staff such as nurses etc. should be furious too. I have little to no sympathy with DWP staff (admin etc.) as their role is non-vital and they're generally overpaid already. I should know, I used to be in the public sector and I felt I was robbing taxpayers by simply having a job there.

Why are teachers underpaid?

Tubey · November 23, 2011

Bruce Wayne said:
Why are teachers underpaid?

Massive sense of deja vu here - I sense the whole six weeks holiday, comfy hours etc. counter-argument is on the way, so rather than shoot holes in that myth I'll just walk away.

Bruce Wayne · November 23, 2011

Not at all, I'm just saying that in a free market people are paid exactly what they're worth. My partner is a nurse and for her first job was paid on a par with the average salary for the entire country, and slightly higher than the average graduate salary. If she'd have been a teacher she would also have earned higher than the graduate average.

The idea that teachers are underpaid is I'm afraid just a myth. As I posted in another thread, the public sector pensions in California are blowing a $200 billion hole in the state finances, with some suggesting this could be as high as $500 billion. They're simply un-affordable and need to become a whole lot more realistic and given those numbers they're as big a strain on public finances as the bank bailout was.

Blue 1 · November 23, 2011

Teachers look after your kids for most of their formative years. I don't think it's possible to underpay them.

Reidy's Bottle Of Grecian · November 23, 2011

Teachers aren't underpaid, if they were then they wouldn't do the job.
However if they have been paying into a pension whilst employed then you can't just change the system that has been paid into, it could halt at a certain date with a new type of pension from then on though.

I CANT AFFORD A PENSION !!
I know a few 'key' workers that lump loads into their pensions each month and they will be on as much when they retire as when working, the amount they put in is matched by the employer as far as I know (willing to be corrected) so these 'key' workers would do well to not moan about what they will get in retirement to people who are also contributing to 'their' pension whilst unable to afford one themselves.

Pay freezes and no rises are something that they will also have to live with, as many of us have done for years.
Whilst employed we didn't get a rise for about 4 years, I have been self employed for 9 years and my rates/charges haven't increased in that time, yet all of my overheads have including a rise in VAT and also a doubling of the price of fuel (LPG), so I probably need to earn an extra £50 per week just to end up with the same as 9 years ago. I'll bet they have had rises of more than £50 in that time, and if 1 more NHS worker asks me for a discount due to being an NHS employee then I'll say yes and charge them more.

Bruce Wayne · November 23, 2011

Average salary for a secondary school teacher is £37,650 a year.

http://www.education.gov.uk/researc...ge-salaries-of-full-time-teachers-in-england-

If pay increased merely in line with inflation since 1997 it would be £32,402.40 a year, so that's a 14% pay rise over and above inflation in that time. Hardly bad is it?

Bruce Wayne · November 23, 2011

Reidy's Bottle Of Grecian said:
Teachers aren't underpaid, if they were then they wouldn't do the job.
However if they have been paying into a pension whilst employed then you can't just change the system that has been paid into, it could halt at a certain date with a new type of pension from then on though.

I CANT AFFORD A PENSION !!
I know a few 'key' workers that lump loads into their pensions each month and they will be on as much when they retire as when working, the amount they put in is matched by the employer as far as I know (willing to be corrected) so these 'key' workers would do well to not moan about what they will get in retirement to people who are also contributing to 'their' pension whilst unable to afford one themselves.

That's it Reidy. My folks are self-employed as well and so had their own private pension. They're told pretty much every year that their pension hasn't done as well as expected so when it comes to fruition it'll be well down on what they had hoped it'd be. No fixed, gold plated final salary scheme for them, nor for me as an employed person in the private sector.

Changes to these things happens, and lets face it, the changes being offered by the government are a heck of a lot better than 99% of those working in the private sector will enjoy.

Reidy's Bottle Of Grecian said:
Pay freezes and no rises are something that they will also have to live with, as many of us have done for years.
Whilst employed we didn't get a rise for about 4 years, I have been self employed for 9 years and my rates/charges haven't increased in that time, yet all of my overheads have including a rise in VAT and also a doubling of the price of fuel (LPG), so I probably need to earn an extra £50 per week just to end up with the same as 9 years ago. I'll bet they have had rises of more than £50 in that time, and if 1 more NHS worker asks me for a discount due to being an NHS employee then I'll say yes and charge them more.

Key worker benefits??

Reidy's Bottle Of Grecian · November 23, 2011

Bruce Wayne said:
Key worker benefits??

I know I used that term, but it really makes my sh1t itch, what makes them so 'key' over say a dustman ? (occupation that's often used) As soon as the garbo's go on strike, or God forbid there's a bank holiday and collections are a day late, then the whole country goes into meltdown with city's reporting infestations and people being vaccinated* against the plague etc.

*ahh, so that's where they come in !! auto injectors would make them less important and also free up NHS appointments.

Raises the Red Flag.
OVER NEXT DOOR FFS !!

Bruce Wayne · November 23, 2011

Reidy's Bottle Of Grecian said:
I know I used that term, but it really makes my sh1t itch, what makes them so 'key' over say a dustman ? (occupation that's often used) As soon as the garbo's go on strike, or God forbid there's a bank holiday and collections are a day late, then the whole country goes into meltdown with city's reporting infestations and people being vaccinated* against the plague etc.

*ahh, so that's where they come in !! auto injectors would make them less important and also free up NHS appointments.

Raises the Red Flag.
OVER NEXT DOOR FFS !!

Quite, they're no more key than the many other people that do valuable roles in society. Train drivers are the same. They earn on average £38,000 a year for a job that the DLR shows can easily be done by a machine.