Public Sector Strikes

Flyboy152

2gorgeousgirls wrote: »

Not all public sector workers are on excellent pensions. Teachers, police, medical professions may be, senior civil servants definitely are but ordinary civil servants are not. Hubby has worked in civil service for 24 years. At present his predicted pension will be slightly over £100 pw, not a lot. I am also a civil servant but have not had a pension forecast so can't comment on mine.

Taking the proposed changes into account, he will pay in more, receive his pension later and it may be less than the current prediction.

We both work extremely hard, with hubby regularly working a couple of evenings at home on top of his office hours.

Yes there are people who "swing the lead" and don't do much work but I'm sure we have all come across people like that in our working lives. The difference is that the private sector seems to be so much better at getting rid of the time wasters.

I believe that the civil service, instead of concentrating on changing pensions etc, should be getting rid of the dead wood. Making the civil service more efficient would save a fortune in the long run.

Pay is also rubbish - both of us earn less than the British average salary of £25498 pa. However, in the current climate, we are both so grateful to have a job and, currently, there are no signs of our posts being made redundant. So while, the pay is rubbish and the pension will be rubbish, we will not complain about our lot as we know we are in a much better position than many. We will just tighten our belts and try to save as much as possible so that, when we do retire, we will have some money set aside to supplement our pension.

But when your employer asks you to pay more into your pension, to get less and to work for longer before you can get it, at what point will you say enough is enough?

Rotor

When it's gone down PAST the level most other people can expect to receive. Even with these changes it is still a silver plated deal , far better than most will receive, just not as good as it was.
I want equality with the private sector not for public sector to be treated worse.

Reverbe

Taiko wrote: »

Just for info, because of union action, the last payrise was actually cancelled. cull.

My heart bleeds. Most ppl I know in the private sector dont get pay rises. I have never had one in any job ive ever worked in..

MothballsWallet

fluffnutter wrote: »

Plenty of private sector workers are in unions.

I'm not in a union, am I missing out on something here?

Flyboy152

MothballsWallet wrote: »

I'm not in a union, am I missing out on something here?

You must be. Why are you not in a union?

2gorgeousgirls

Flyboy152 wrote: »

But when your employer asks you to pay more into your pension, to get less and to work for longer before you can get it, at what point will you say enough is enough?

I understand what you're saying and I'm not a bit happy about having to pay more into my pension and getting less out.

A couple of years ago I would have been spouting off big style but seeing the precarious position this country is in at present, I'm prepared to accept things I wouldn't have previously.

I know that I won't have a pay rise for a couple of years but to be honest, if I was told that I had to take a 10% pay cut, I would also accept that if it meant that I, at least, still had a job.

We are in a worse position than England, in NI our payscales are already approximately £3000 lower than the equivalent in England. Up until recently, we had no competition as regards utility supply so have been paying over the odds for electricity etc for many years. Cost of living is very high, food is more expensive here due to transport costs. Car insurance here is much more expensive than England as is the cost of buying a second hand car.

But I am still grateful for what I have and will not strike to jeopardise my job. For that reason, I resigned from the union as I could not remain in it and not abide by any decisions they would make as regards taking strike action.

vyle

Rotor wrote: »

Not sure I understand. You claim in the public sector "you can't know the horrors of working there" yet you choose to retrain as a teacher!
Are you aiming for private school teaching or is your claim mere hyperbole?

Well, I want a degree with practical use, in a job I may be physically able to work full time in (long story about health problems, won't go into them here).

Sadly, teaching looks like it's the only thing that ticks the boxes, but notice I said I may be able to use it for something else if things get too bleak. I.e. if the civil service is still a !!!! hole in 5 years time, I may be able to do something else. Quite a few jobs only require you to be educated to degree level, after all.

And I could segue into private teaching, or even psychology due to the nature of the degree I'm currently studying towards before adding a PGCE.

Flyboy152

2gorgeousgirls wrote: »

I understand what you're saying and I'm not a bit happy about having to pay more into my pension and getting less out.

A couple of years ago I would have been spouting off big style but seeing the precarious position this country is in at present, I'm prepared to accept things I wouldn't have previously.

I know that I won't have a pay rise for a couple of years but to be honest, if I was told that I had to take a 10% pay cut, I would also accept that if it meant that I, at least, still had a job.

We are in a worse position than England, in NI our payscales are already approximately £3000 lower than the equivalent in England. Up until recently, we had no competition as regards utility supply so have been paying over the odds for electricity etc for many years. Cost of living is very high, food is more expensive here due to transport costs. Car insurance here is much more expensive than England as is the cost of buying a second hand car.

But I am still grateful for what I have and will not strike to jeopardise my job. For that reason, I resigned from the union as I could not remain in it and not abide by any decisions they would make as regards taking strike action.

This pension issue has nothing to do with the current economical situation. Lord Hutton has been absolutely implicit in that.

Gavin83

sharnad wrote: »

All Public sector workers it's not just affecting the teachers

So what exactly is the strike over? I haven't heard anything about a strike yet.

Ive been working in the public sector for nearly 5 years now and along with most of my younger colleagues am currently looking for a job in the private sector. There is nothing appealing about working in local government; the job is extremely stressful, the job security is poor, the pay is poor, there are no bonuses and little opportunity to progress. The only thing thats ok is the pension, although even that isn't great enough that I bother and I know people in the private sector on equal packages.

Maybe some public sector jobs are good but mine is terrible right now. Can't wait to work in the private sector.

sharnad

Gavin83 wrote: »

So what exactly is the strike over? I haven't heard anything about a strike yet.

Ive been working in the public sector for nearly 5 years now and along with most of my younger colleagues am currently looking for a job in the private sector. There is nothing appealing about working in local government; the job is extremely stressful, the job security is poor, the pay is poor, there are no bonuses and little opportunity to progress. The only thing thats ok is the pension, although even that isn't great enough that I bother and I know people in the private sector on equal packages.

Maybe some public sector jobs are good but mine is terrible right now. Can't wait to work in the private sector.

. It's on pensions on30. Junep