Public Sector Workers

dickydonkin

michelle1506 wrote: »

Actually I got extremely bored with all the mind numbing idiots who abused me yesterday, so signed off. Frankly you are not worth my time or explanation. You are way too ignorant. I think it's a shame that you have hijacked these thread for your own dubious intentions. The original concept behind it was a good one. I'm signing off again, and won't be responding to anymore of your idiotic comments. Do you really think that you wind me up so obviously??? Well you can't! :rotfl:

Ooohhh!

Come on michelle - don't take on so.

Sometimes (in fact quite a lot) you will get responses you do not wish to see.

You certainly can get wound up by 'certain people' but there is nothing wrong with healthy debate.

Many on here have experiences which may or may not be relevant to your post and you should be able to filter out the unhelpful contributions and use the good advice to your advantage.

MikeR71

I work for a scientific institution that is funded by the government. I came to this job from a job at a University where I was paid more for doing the same job at a more relaxed environment. The reason I moved to my current public sector role is that I was given a permanent contract, whatever that means! I suppose if they decide to shut down the institute then they will make us redundant.

But first let me say, I am grateful to have this job. I know many people are facing redundancy or have been made redundant already. So I count my blessings. But what I noticed soon after arriving is that this institution is on the whole uncompetetive in terms of salary. The colleagues I worked with at the University are now earning around £5000 more than me eventhough at the time I was on par with them.

In 2009 we recieved our last cost of living allowance (3%) and the last time we were moved up by one spine point on the pay scale. Last year's decision to freeze our pay meant that we don't even get the cost of living allowance. I haven't looked into this personally but everyone has accepted it. My wife works for the NHS and they at least get the cost of living increase. But I don't understand why we don't.

I am looking to move back to the University but something tells me to stay put. University jobs are als very hard to get as there are hundreds of applications for every vacancy. At least here I don't have to deal with a fixed term contract.

Does anyone know why some public sector employees get the cost of living rise while others don't?

happygnome

I have recently been down graded in my post with a pay cut to match. I was not treated well during the process and only the satisfaction of working with the vulnerable adults I support is keeping me going. I have worked for the LA for almost 20 years and stupidly expected this to count for something, I was wrong.

In terms of having fab financial packages on retirement / redundancy I can say categorically this has happened where I work, for the most senior staff. The staff cull started at the top at a time when there was a multiplier applied to statutory redundancy pay, this has been removed and they are now moving down the 'ranks' to lower grade staff to find more redundancies, those lower paid staff will obviously have smaller redundancy packages but with the lack of multiplier as well the amount offered is pitiful.

Morale is low in the public sector, I am sure this is also true of the private sector lets face it, we all are faced with crappy mortgage deals and high prices, putting fuel in the car is a depresser all by itself!!

Just for encouragement, the department I managed until very recently has been significantly under budget for at least the last five years, we have worked around having posts frozen, colleagues taking on more and looking at ways of maximising the staffing we have and we have also progressed the service we provide, offering a much better experience to users than we have ever managed. That said I think we are all at the point of exhaustion!

I am bitter over what was done to me however I still love my work and hope to remain with my employer, not because I love the public sector or through any loyalty to them but as its the main employer in the field I am experienced in and wish to work in. I would however love to have the opportunity to contribute to where the cuts are made, on the frontline we see a great deal of wastage, whether its through having to use contracted suppliers or ridiculous care packages being provided we have an insight that those decision makers don't have.

I would suggest that someone sets up a different board to offer some peer support to other workers who are experiencing uncertain times, I suspect that was the intention of this board.:A

sharnad

bendix wrote: »

We pay your salary. You are public servants. You work for us. Ergo, we can contribute.

Are we not entitled to express a view? What gives you the right to say we can or cannot post our thoughts?

As a public sector worker, perhaps it's some kind of union directive.

(does anyone have an image of a wind-up doll?)

everyone is entitled to an opinion even is what they are saying is a load of nonsense

Hammyman

lr1277 wrote: »

When private sector employees of certain banks and other financial situations got greedy and were incompetent, the government decided that the taxpayer had to support the 'system' to the tune of hundreds of billions. You can argue the merits of supporting the banking system, but the situation is that it was done, and so we have to deal with it.

Thats your taxes paying for the private sector!

And who made the decision to spend £billions bailing out the banks despite the electorate saying they should be left to go to the wall?

POLITICIANS AND THE CIVIL SERVICE aka public sector workers..

scala1000

Hammyman wrote: »

And who made the decision to spend £billions bailing out the banks despite the electorate saying they should be left to go to the wall?

POLITICIANS AND THE CIVIL SERVICE aka public sector workers..

Time for this thread to be closed with the continuous crap off topic comments like this

Wellery82

Clearly it is a difficult time for lots of people, public and private sector alike. Possibly culturally it may be more diffiicult for the public sector however given that many individuals would have felt immune to a certain extent from what is going on

I haven't got much to add apart from the old adage that is worth considering- from adversity comes opportunity. Whether it is that you end up in a new job that you prefer, the force into training for a new career which gives you a long term brighter future, the force into starting a fresh chapter in your life in a location elsewhere, a worse job where you meet the partner of your dreams, free time that enables you to enrich your life in another way, or even the capability to keep your current job and demonstrate many new skills and abilities in a difficult time that help as we come out the recession.

Hopefully people can see the potential a positive may be hiding around the corner, even if not evident at first glance. Good luck people

tenmah

I work for the public sector and can't dispute some of what has been said. My obsveration is that the 'officers' on the front line are the ones that seem to have the integrity, the focus, the willingness to help the customers etc in the same way as private sector workers have.

However it is their managers, and the managers above them and the managers above them that get the big bucks, don't live in the real world, pass the buck and generally give public sector workers a bad press. The officers are probably not on the wages, doing nothing in the way some people think they are.

I still don't understand why all those who state that public sector workers have never had it so good, do not apply for jobs there, and then they can sort it all out in the way they think it should be run?

mizzbiz

scala1000 wrote: »

Time for this thread to be closed with the continuous crap off topic comments like this

That's an ambitious statement from someone with a history of 2 POSTS

Think you forgot to sign out and sign back in again :rotfl: Foopah

Angel_of_Tomfoolery

I think many people are missing the crucial point that the objectives of the private sector and public sector are completely different, so it's not really a case of one group being in 'the real world' as opposed to the other. The public sector is not aiming to maximise profits, so what makes cuts hard to swallow is that there isn't a natural process of reduced profits leading to budget cuts. The need for the public sector remains whether there is money or not. However, I agree that there are HUGE inefficiencies within the public sector and I think that a move towards greater value and greater accountability would go some way to restore some faith that so many people seem to have lost! I don't agree with the 'you only pay taxes because of our taxes' rationale: that implies that the money has not been earned in any way and the majority of public sector workers work hard for their money. Overall, I think that there needs to be more respect for the public sector, but it needs to be earned!