Strikes to go ahead

wymondham

I bet the teachers here in Norfolk are put out as most schools are closed tomorrow anyway due to the Norfolk Show.... nobody will notice!

lostinrates

J_i_m wrote: »

Any worker in any sector is entitled to stand up for their rights, or for better conditions, if this were a strike in a private sector, no one would bat an eyelid,

seems to me that there has been a lot of public outcry at the way bankers have been paid in the last few years.

ILW

Difference is that we are forced to pay for the public sectors pay and perks. I can generally chose which parts of the private sector I wish to contribute to.

leveller2911

Orpheo wrote: »

Yes, you're right. And you're wrong.

The real truth is that public sector pensions were always going to fail because they are a ponzi scheme. Private sector pensions were always going to fail because they are managed by thieves. With this in mind, the best thing for us to do is squabble jealously amongst ourselves while we all get shafted.

I agree with your sentiment as its in no ones interest to have a race to the botto but there is a difference here and that is your Pension is subsidised by the taxpayer whereas in the Private sector we aren't so we get "shafted" twice, not only are our Pensions worth less at the same time your expecting us to still pay into yours.

Try being one of the 4.03 million self employed people who have seen annuities fall by around 50% in the last 10 years and you think you have it bad?.......

leveller2911

Really2 wrote: »

We have left it graham, and it takes two to disagree as you well know.

But don't let that stop you trying to start another argument.:D

shame rewired is not around, you might of got a "thanks" for that.

Well it made me chuckle so I'll stand in for Rewired.......:D

leveller2911

Duplicated Post

Credit-Crunched

I think that the real issue here is what we class as public sector, for me the most important people who SHOULD be treated well are:

Police/Fire/Nurses/Paramedics and the Armed forces

The other elements of the public sector need to wake up and smell the coffee.

Teachers - Great holidays / excellent rates of pay and minimal targets to work towards, rising levels of literacy problems - this is down to people going into teaching who have no real skill sets "those who can do, those who can't, teach" which is so true. People not wanting to take junior school due to being scared of the Maths classes!

Bin Men - Collections every other week, and when they are not collecting they are sat in the van outside my office reading the paper!

DVLA / Land Registry etc - these people do nothing the private sector couldn't do, and their justification for a final salary pension, come on.

Labour created this monster to 'reduce' unemployment now its come to bite them on the a@@!

I have sub contracted to the council before and i was AMAZED at the lack of efficiency, 6 people doing 1 persons job, working so solowly so they could claim overtime on Saturday!

And do not get me started on the UNIONS!!!

power hungry people left in the past, representing the working class man, on 100k a year, really, would you be that passionate for minimum wage or free?

We are all in this together, take the cuts we have taken in the private sector and lets start moving on!

andy.m_2

J_i_m wrote: »

I disagree somewhat. I think it's too easy to take public sector workers for granted, some people seem to assume that if a person works for the public then they somehow give up their rights.

It's worth remembering that society benefits from public workers in so many areas... be they teachers, bin collection, nurses, police, fire fighters, armed forces etc They all provide a vital service, often for very little thanks, and also often for lots of abuse as well.

Any worker in any sector is entitled to stand up for their rights, or for better conditions, if this were a strike in a private sector, no one would bat an eyelid, but since it's public and it's teachers people are quick to take offence because it might inconvenience for one day.

It's also too easy to assume that teachers have more holiday time than most professions, yet I'm sure there's plenty of work for them to do during half terms and holidays, planning etc.

Public sector jobs are far from safe. Budgets are being hit everywhere, recruitment is being frozen, overtime is being is being drastically reduced or scrapped altogether, jobs are being made redundant. workloads are increasing, stress levels are going through the roof.

These people work for you, they work for everybody... cut them some slack, they deserve some consideration and respect.

You may have slightly missed the sentiment behind my post,

I am not belittling the public sector, lots of essential services that I am glad are provided.
I am saying that everyone has to contribute to the economic recovery, so that means increased contributions, longer working life etc etc
this has been a sad fact of private sector life for a while and as we all have to help get the country back on its feet then it follows naturally that the public sector should chip in and follow suit.

smala01

Rochdale_Pioneers wrote: »

What entertains me about

But if you are a teacher you have no choice. You can change schools but the pension deal is the pension deal. All you could do is stop being a teacher and do something else - is that the remedy that the right are recommending to teachers unhappy about being told to pay more and work longer for less, quit?

This is collective bargaining that has so benefited the public service over the last 20 years.

Why would any teacher want to enter a private scheme. Even after the cuts its almost impossible to find a scheme as generous in the private sector!

Smala01

patrick_bs15

patrick_bs15 wrote: »

Good point: this is why I'm striking on Thursday (I'm a primary school teacher)

I accept the 2 year pay freeze on my salary, I accept the need to work till 67, I accept that the percentage I pay towards my pension has to increase...
What I don't accept is the link to CPI rather than RPI. If that was removed I wouldn't have any problems with the measures taken at all.

Some of us teachers DO understand that the era of final-salary pensions has gone forever and that we need to 'do our bit' to reduce the nation's debt.

So... if teachers have to pay a larger percentage towards their pension (in my case, approx. £75 a month more) and work longer, but the link to RPI was maintained, would that be a reasonable compromise? I think it would be. What do others think?