BBC unbiased?

bigheadxx

I think the BBC News 10.00pm last night was a deliberate attempt to create sympathy towards the "poorly paid" public sector workers.

They interviewed a paramedic who was "concerned" that pay may be frozen in the public sector and he only earned £25,000 a year. This immediately sounded alarm bells as that is the BASIC salary for a paramedic and you automatically earn much more due to unsocial hours payments.

http://www.prospects.ac.uk/p/types_of_job/paramedic_salary.jsp

The lowest salary you are therefore likely to earn is around £30,000 p/a plus a very generous pension on top. However this was not touched upon by the BBC.

vyle

bigheadxx wrote: »

I think the BBC News 10.00pm last night was a deliberate attempt to create sympathy towards the "poorly paid" public sector workers.

They interviewed a paramedic who was "concerned" that pay may be frozen in the public sector and he only earned £25,000 a year. This immediately sounded alarm bells as that is the BASIC salary for a paramedic and you automatically earn much more due to unsocial hours payments.

http://www.prospects.ac.uk/p/types_of_job/paramedic_salary.jsp

The lowest salary you are therefore likely to earn is around £30,000 p/a plus a very generous pension on top. However this was not touched upon by the BBC.

I used to work in the public sector and it's not as cushty as people think. In my job, pay was crap (just above minimum wage), there were NO perks whatsoever. We were bound by arbitrary targets and the only thing we had to look forward to was our pension, which people seem determined to ruin, because they think we got paid loads and had an amazing pension. Yes, the top end of the heirarchy might, but the ground level staff got nothing.

In the 4 years I was there, we never saw any form of bonus, either. Now I work in the private sector, I get a decent pay, have a decent pension to look forward to, as well as loads of perks of the job.

I dont know why everybody has it in for public sector workers, because without them, nothing will get done.

Pumpkinface_2

My sister is a nurse, she works in rehabilitation for cardiac patients. She earns £30k, works four days a week 9am - 5pm, has eight weeks annual leave and she has an inflation proof pension. She seems to be one of the few public sector workers who acknowledges that things are not so bad in the public sector and she thinks nursing is a very good way to make a living.

trevormax

I'd agree with Vyle that public sector jobs are not cushy for the bottom run workers. I used to work in HMRC and you are subject to senior managers changing policy left right and centre (such as the introduction of LEAN to the PAYE sections), massive job cuts mainly because a politician wants to cut costs and increasing work loads to compensate for the reduced number of staff.

Also, although nurse jobs and teacher jobs are very well paid, they are skilled jobs. To do them, people usually have to go through years of university. In my opinion, they should be well paid for the job.

However I dont think anyone has the right to be concerned about a pay freeze in the current financial situation and that includes public and private sector. People should be thankful that they have a job.

bigheadxx

trevormax wrote: »

I'd agree with Vyle that public sector jobs are not cushy for the bottom run workers. I used to work in HMRC and you are subject to senior managers changing policy left right and centre (such as the introduction of LEAN to the PAYE sections), massive job cuts mainly because a politician wants to cut costs and increasing work loads to compensate for the reduced number of staff.

Also, although nurse jobs and teacher jobs are very well paid, they are skilled jobs. To do them, people usually have to go through years of university. In my opinion, they should be well paid for the job.

However I dont think anyone has the right to be concerned about a pay freeze in the current financial situation and that includes public and private sector. People should be thankful that they have a job.

I think that very few public sector worker acknowledge how good they have had it this last ten years and many take it as a right that there pay will increase and pensions be protected.

Public sector pay has increased much more than that in the private sector this last 12 years but there has been no real improvement to services overall.

bluejake

Of course public services have improved, you just take it for granted. I remember 2 or 3 year waiting lists for operations on the NHS. I remember huge classes of schoolchildren being taught in portacabins or in run down schools with leaking roofs and out of date text books.

People have short memories.

berkshirelady

Hi. I think you might find that any increases in public sector pay in recent years, came about because the pay was lagging so far behind the private sector, they were finding it difficult across the board to attract any brains or talent. Pay peanuts, get monkeys.

yes, I am a public sector worker, in a local authority. i will fess this up now! As a front-line worker, I deal with some very vulnerable people, with mental health problems, physical disabilities, elderly/dementia, families in crisis, sex offenders, disturbed young people, you name it. They can be very distressed or aggressive on the phone, each time it rings, i never know what's coming. People talk to me about child abuse, rape, deaths in the family, criminal offenses, the things they share with me might make some people's hair stand on end! But it is part of my job to listen and to not judge, however hard it might be for me morally or personally.

My job requires a great deal of savvy, and it can be very emotionally draining. But as it's officially an 'admin' job, I am on less than £10 an hour. I do find it rewarding, and I have many colleagues who look upon their work as a vocation, we do tonnes of hours for no extra money because we want to to our jobs well, act with integrity, and work hard for the people we serve (i.e. our residents, service users and the council tax payer).

I am not saying all this to have a whinge, but i think it should be pointed out that many public sector workers deal with the sort of people that many of us would not touch with a barge pole, and for not very much money. And for that alone I think some recognition is deserved.

thank you for listening!

bigheadxx

bluejake wrote: »

Of course public services have improved, you just take it for granted. I remember 2 or 3 year waiting lists for operations on the NHS. I remember huge classes of schoolchildren being taught in portacabins or in run down schools with leaking roofs and out of date text books.

People have short memories.

People still wait for treatmenet on the NHS, the only difference is that it is now split into blocks where you start on a new waiting list after each consultation. You can also be sat in a waiting room for 2 hours past your appointment time because the system is so chronic. Our health service is the laughing stock of EASTERN Europe, they cant understand "waiting" in Eastern Europe you go to the doctor, you pay the fee, you get treated immediately.

Having been schooled right through the 1980s I dont remember out of date text books. Our son brought a reading book dated 1984 home a few months ago, same language!

As for Portacaabins, yes I remember them but thats progress besides which the money to pay for all this would not have been there had we had 18 years of spendthrift labour governments in the 80s and 90s

RayWolfe

I thought you started this by suggesting that the BBC was biased. It seems that you are here with an agenda that has nothing whatever to do with saving tax.
I suggest that this thread is worthless in this slot and would be better in the columns of the Daily Mail or talk radio. Goodbye.

berkshirelady

well done, Ray. I started off by giving a reasoned argument, but I'm with you on this one. Bighead, I'm sure Radio 5 live will be hosting a suitable phone-in tomorrow morning.

bigheadxx

RayWolfe wrote: »

I thought you started this by suggesting that the BBC was biased. It seems that you are here with an agenda that has nothing whatever to do with saving tax.
I suggest that this thread is worthless in this slot and would be better in the columns of the Daily Mail or talk radio. Goodbye.

It was a question.