Public Sector Pension Strikes – A JOKE !

Credit-Crunched

real1314 wrote: »

Private Sector unaffordable pensions don't seem to worry all the private sector workers on here. Ironic. :cool:

Thats because the rest of the population is not propping up the deficit!

jem16

Credit-Crunched wrote: »

Thats because the rest of the population is not propping up the deficit!

Yes they are by paying higher prices for whatever goods/services that company is providing. The company also reduces its wages to employed staff and reduces its dividends to shareholders.

Desperate_Housewife_2-2

well, the tories are at it again, pitching one section of the working class against the other, same happened in the miners strike in the 80s.

The problems we have today are a direct result of Thatchers 'me, me, me' mentality, individualism not society. Scorched earth policies as regards the complete anihilation of communities, jobs, decent affordable housing and subsequent breakdown of communities, community cohesion and a slow slide into entrenched social problems such as drug use, alcoholism etc... and to put the tin hat on the job, they blame the working classes for this as if they are the ones who instigated it all!

The government does not care about the working class, the strike will not affect them and they can go ahead coveniently blaming the unions and anyone who wants to stand up for themselves.

I agree with the anti-capitalist protestors camping outside st pauls as they are right to question the morals of this society and the way it is set up.

Everyone knows that 1% of the population owns 99% of the wealth...how is this fair?

Thatcher's government systematically dismantled manufacturing industry and we are feeling the after effects even now, she encouraged the city and financial sector without realising it was built on hot air.

I'm not saying that Labour are any better but they did more to help the poor in society and I for one will be voting for them at the next election.

Finally, I am a public sector worker..a nurse in fact and I appreciate my pension but realise that it is unsustainable in todays economic climate. I have taken another pension out and trying to save for retirement. I have sympathy for the strikers and wish them best of luck but I will not strike as I could not in all conscience walk out on my patients and colleagues.

A word of warning though....watch out when they start on the NHS, it is running at full capacity now without any cutbacks, we are working at full stretch, if they pull funding or start making cutbacks like they did when they were last in then god help us.

CLAPTON

Desperate_Housewife wrote: »

Finally, I am a public sector worker..a nurse in fact and I appreciate my pension but realise that it is unsustainable in todays economic climate. I have taken another pension out and trying to save for retirement. I have sympathy for the strikers and wish them best of luck but I will not strike as I could not in all conscience walk out on my patients and colleagues.

A word of warning though....watch out when they start on the NHS, it is running at full capacity now without any cutbacks, we are working at full stretch, if they pull funding or start making cutbacks like they did when they were last in then god help us.

I hope you are continuing to contribute to the NHS pension

Itismehonest

Both sides are so entrenched that arguments will never move them but I would like to ask a question. Hopefully, among the MSErs there will be professional economist-type people who actually know the answer. This is not intended to start tit for tat arguments.

Given the size of our debt in the UK, would I be right in thinking that one of the main reasons we are not in the same dire position as Greece & Italy (or Portugal, Spain, Ireland) is the extremely tough regime on debt reduction which we are undergoing?

If so, when the UK is seen to be going down the same route as those other countries (large strikes, unrest, a nation not willing to admit the debt problem is there with much of it down to our own making & not solely due to the banks) that we risk finding ourselves in a far worse position than we now? Is not the risk of vastly increased redundancies, job losses & bankruptcies etc. increased?

Desperate_Housewife_2-2

CLAPTON wrote: »

I hope you are continuing to contribute to the NHS pension

I am indeed.

Desperate_Housewife_2-2

Itismehonest wrote: »

Both sides are so entrenched that arguments will never move them but I would like to ask a question. Hopefully, among the MSErs there will be professional economist-type people who actually know the answer. This is not intended to start tit for tat arguments.

Given the size of our debt in the UK, would I be right in thinking that one of the main reasons we are not in the same dire position as Greece & Italy (or Portugal, Spain, Ireland) is the extremely tough regime on debt reduction which we are undergoing?

If so, when the UK is seen to be going down the same route as those other countries (large strikes, unrest, a nation not willing to admit the debt problem is there with much of it down to our own making & not solely due to the banks) that we risk finding ourselves in a far worse position than we now? Is not the risk of vastly increased redundancies, job losses & bankruptcies etc. increased?

Unfortunately I am not a 'professional economist style' person but my opinion is that we need to invest in the economy for it to start working again, otherwise we will slide into recession. Some say we cant afford it, I say we cant afford not to. The hoover dam was built in the USA in the early part of the 20th century precisely for this very same reason. I dont believe these so-called debt reduction tory strategies are going to work.

custardy

hugheskevi wrote: »

Companies such as BT, Royal Mail and BA have huge pension deficits. They have to spend hundreds of millions each year in special contributions to make good those deficits. That is money that could be used for wages, lower prices or dividends. Consumers suffer due to the promises made to historic workers that have to funded from revenues today. Paying higher prices for many services is very similar to a tax and definitely a drain on the country's finances.

however bear in mind much of RMs deficit came from a 13 year pension payment holiday the government/RM took in the 'good' times.
so the money from then wasnt reinvested or paid into the pension pot.
it went right into the treasury.

Stargazer57

Desperate_Housewife wrote: »

The government does not care about the working class, the strike will not affect them and they can go ahead coveniently blaming the unions and anyone who wants to stand up for themselves.

I thought that the lower paid, who don't tend to get promoted towards the end of their careers, would actually do better under the latest proposals than under the existing schemes. The public sector workers who will lose most with be those such as headteachers and senior civil servants.

Desperate_Housewife wrote: »

A word of warning though....watch out when they start on the NHS, it is running at full capacity now without any cutbacks, we are working at full stretch, if they pull funding or start making cutbacks like they did when they were last in then god help us.

Good thing Labour didn't get in then. They were going to cut public spending as well, but without the ring fencing that the Tories have applied to health. So if Labour had won NHS spending would already have been cut.

atush

Given the size of our debt in the UK, would I be right in thinking that one of the main reasons we are not in the same dire position as Greece & Italy (or Portugal, Spain, Ireland) is the extremely tough regime on debt reduction which we are undergoing?

I am not a professional economist ( was a biologist) but do have a son doing a dissertation at the moment and we do discuss economics a lot and all read the economist.

The UK's credit rating is holding up lunike the others mentiooned, and this means we pay less interest to service our debt than we would have if we had not made the measures. There has also been a flight to quality in some upper areas of the property market as the rich from elsewhere int he world buy high end London property as a safe haven for their wealth. But we are alos making oursleves uncompetitive in other areas such as the high rate of passenger taxes for UK airline tickets, as well as the new proposed levies on banks and other financial services that could make large corportations go overseas. Which would mean job losses on a huge scale as financial services are one of our largest sectors. Those who keep their jobs will move which means they won't be spending their money here on goods and services and hiring people.


But sdo agree that we may and should do something to increase jobs/employment. the new scheme whereby the govt gives incentives to employers to take on apprentices is a good idea, but we should perhaps go further and in other areas.