Spending Review: half a million public sector jobs to go

paddedjohn

my wife works for local council (public sector) and it irks me that one of the benefits they enjoy is sick pay, not ordinary sick pay like the rest of us but full pay for the first six months and then half pay. if the public sector reigned in some of these costs then less jobs will have to go

robin_banks

paddedjohn wrote: »

my wife works for local council (public sector) and it irks me that one of the benefits they enjoy is sick pay, not ordinary sick pay like the rest of us but full pay for the first six months and then half pay. if the public sector reigned in some of these costs then less jobs will have to go

Don't doubt it for a minute.

doe808

Originally Posted by mustrum_ridcully
If the TUC figures are to be believed then 39p of every £ paid to a public sector worker ends up in the private sector.

chattychappy wrote: »

It certainly started there!

Yup.

BlueBanana_2

I wonder why it is that some private sector workers feel the need to defend their jobs by labelling public sector workers as "lazy" and suggesting that their jobs have no economic value. It seems bizarre to suggest that a nurse working a night shift has less economic value than someone who has just increased their sales figures (by flogging a product to people who neither need it nor can afford it). But maybe that's because I'm a Marxist....

Tankrizzo_2

BlueBanana wrote: »

I wonder why it is that some private sector workers feel the need to defend their jobs by labelling public sector workers as "lazy" and suggesting that their jobs have no economic value. It seems bizarre to suggest that a nurse working a night shift has less economic value than someone who has just increased their sales figures (by flogging a product to people who neither need it nor can afford it). But maybe that's because I'm a Marxist....

"Contributing to the economy" is hard to quantify sometimes. Although a nurse does not generate any wealth per se, what happens if she saves the life of an investment banker who goes on to make millions for his British firm who then pay corporation tax, pay their salaries etc?

Has she any "economic value"? Well, of course. But not perhaps in the way that some people think.

BlueBanana_2

An unfortunate example. Investment bankers lose lots of money through casino banking (and betting on currencies failing - how nice), wipe out their bank's assets, demand to be bailed out by their friends in government and then give their country an enormous deficit (the worst since WW2). And what happens? They don't get fired, they don't get a pay cut; they continue to award themselves huge bonuses. The person in the street gets redundancy, homelessness and family breakdown.

But that's OK. As long as the bankers can be kept in the style to which they are accustomed. Because they are the ones with "economic value". Yeah right. Money, despite what the Establishment tell us, is not everything. And it doesn't make you happy. Materialism is an empty concept and equals debt and misery.

Tankrizzo_2

BlueBanana wrote: »

An unfortunate example. Investment bankers lose lots of money through casino banking (and betting on currencies failing - how nice), wipe out their bank's assets, demand to be bailed out by their friends in government and then give their country an enormous deficit (the worst since WW2). And what happens? They don't get fired, they don't get a pay cut; they continue to award themselves huge bonuses. The person in the street gets redundancy, homelessness and family breakdown.

But that's OK. As long as the bankers can be kept in the style to which they are accustomed. Because they are the ones with "economic value". Yeah right. Money, despite what the Establishment tell us, is not everything. And it doesn't make you happy. Materialism is an empty concept and equals debt and misery.

Um....you do know that we are currently making, and will make, a tidy profit on the bailout, don't you.

The "deficit" was caused by a huge government overspend. Not bailing out the banks, but by profligacy and poor financial management.

You are correct in that money isn't everything, but having enough certainly makes life easier. Perhaps it shouldn't, agreed, but we live in a capitalist society. Even this entire site is based around saving money and materialistic principles.

bluebag

paddedjohn wrote: »

my wife works for local council (public sector) and it irks me that one of the benefits they enjoy is sick pay, not ordinary sick pay like the rest of us but full pay for the first six months and then half pay. if the public sector reigned in some of these costs then less jobs will have to go

The sick leave still requires medical evidence though. My husband works in the public sector and required six months sick leave after a heart attack.

I think it's a sad day that productive jobs in this country have gone overseas, instead of protesting loudly we are stabbing at each other for the crumbs.

The clear evidence is as a workforce, due to innovation and technology, we are much more efficient than we have ever been.
Do we benefit from this with a reduced working hours and better conditions or do our masters enjoy record profits and bonuses?

http://blog.creativeaction.co.uk/?p=2292

Googlewhacker

bluebag wrote: »

The sick leave still requires medical evidence though. My husband works in the public sector and required six months sick leave after a heart attack.

I think it's a sad day that productive jobs in this country have gone overseas, instead of protesting loudly we are stabbing at each other for the crumbs.

The clear evidence is as a workforce, due to innovation and technology, we are much more efficient than we have ever been.
Do we benefit from this with a reduced working hours and better conditions or do our masters enjoy record profits and bonuses?

http://blog.creativeaction.co.uk/?p=2292

Instead of moaning why don't you become your own boss?

paddedjohn

bluebag wrote: »

The sick leave still requires medical evidence though. My husband works in the public sector and required six months sick leave after a heart attack.

I think it's a sad day that productive jobs in this country have gone overseas, instead of protesting loudly we are stabbing at each other for the crumbs.

The clear evidence is as a workforce, due to innovation and technology, we are much more efficient than we have ever been.
Do we benefit from this with a reduced working hours and better conditions or do our masters enjoy record profits and bonuses?

http://blog.creativeaction.co.uk/?p=2292

i still require medical evidence if i was off sick but i would only get statutary sick pay, not full pay like the public sector worker.
its this and other expensive perks that the state should cut and then maybe we would lose less jobs