Public Sector Pension Strikes – A JOKE !

CLAPTON

I doubt that the high unionisation of the public sector is relevent to the large number of over inflated salaries of the senior managers
more affinity with senior private sector managers pocketing their over inflated salaries and bonuses

BobQ

ILW wrote: »

That is where a highly unionised public organisation falls down, nobody take any responsibility and in the end it is the service user and taxpayer that pays the price.

When unions are swept away who will you blame then? Your negativity towards unions is like a one track record. Many of the Unions that will be striking on Wednesday as far as I can see are the least militant ones.

When was the last time the CSP, FDA, ISU and NAHT went on strike?

Edit - www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-15909788

"A head teacher praised by David Cameron for not closing her school for a strike in June says she will strike for the first time in her life on Wednesday........"

glasgowdan

Does this forum have polls? I suggest an in favour and against poll would be interesting.

ILW

BobQ wrote: »

When unions are swept away who will you blame then? Your negativity towards unions is like a one track record. Many of the Unions that will be striking on Wednesday as far as I can see are the least militant ones.

When was the last time the CSP, FDA, ISU and NAHT went on strike?

Edit - www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-15909788

"A head teacher praised by David Cameron for not closing her school for a strike in June says she will strike for the first time in her life on Wednesday........"

I do have a certain negativity against unions, sadly I am old enough to remember the days of the late 70s when the unions of the time practically destroyed the UK economy, and bought down a good few industries.

CLAPTON

ILW wrote: »

I do have a certain negativity against unions, sadly I am old enough to remember the days of the late 70s when the unions of the time practically destroyed the UK economy, and bought down a good few industries.

indeed so
of course the leaders of industry were useless too (cf awful UK cars, awful electonics, bankrupt RR etc

and the rush to exhaust north sea oil and gas was the unions fault too?
and deregulation of the financial sector?
decline of manufacturing industry in the 80/90s?
pension mis-selling?
PPI?



just trying to bring a bit of balance

there's wrongs and rights everywhere; one needs to treat each situation on it's merits and not blind prejudice

Moby

ILW wrote: »

That is where a highly unionised public organisation falls down, nobody take any responsibility and in the end it is the service user and taxpayer that pays the price.

So who exactly takes responsibility in the private sector when things go wrong? Ask the bankers getting their huge bonuses this Xmas!

Moby

gfplux wrote: »

The sooner the private sector is allowed to run Government services the better.
I was for many years completely apposed to this but have been convinced over the last decade or so that public services of all kind can not deliver the services we can afford.
Public ownership of these services has proven a failure, give the private sector a chance. They can't be worse than what we have got at the moment.
Militant Government workers striking on Wednesday should remember what happened to the car workers who used to hold this country to ransom in the past.
Today's car worker cares about their product, works in an efficient organisation producing what the public want.

Producing a car is not the same as providing a service:mad:
Giving public services to the private sector would introduce the profit motive and the vagaries of the market. This is all very well when producing flat screen TV's but its a totally different matter when providing services such as health, criminal justice, social services etc. Introducing profit motive in these areas drives down service quality and terms and conditions of the workers. This has been seen time and time again.

ILW

Moby wrote: »

So who exactly takes responsibility in the private sector when things go wrong? Ask the bankers getting their huge bonuses this Xmas!

A few got their bonuses. I believe the investment banking sector actually sacked around 30% of it's employees after the crash. Which is how it should work.

Credit-Crunched

Moby wrote: »

Producing a car is not the same as providing a service:mad:
Giving public services to the private sector would introduce the profit motive and the vagaries of the market. This is all very well when producing flat screen TV's but its a totally different matter when providing services such as health, criminal justice, social services etc. Introducing profit motive in these areas drives down service quality and terms and conditions of the workers. This has been seen time and time again.

I love this somewhat bizarre notion that the private sector is all about factories. Lets go through a day of your interaction with the private sector.

bus / train to work = private
coffee on way in = private
buy lunch in supermarket = private
call into bank to pay cheque = private
re-fuel car on way home = private
phone up sky / electric to change account = private

If the private sector threatened strikes on the same magnitude of the public sector then this country would literally grind to a halt, the striking public sector will be no different to any other working day.

I speak aside of nurses, police, fire, paramedics, coast guard etc who deserve MORE money

The amount of over paid, over unionised, over self-opinionated self worth individuals in the public sector is sickening. I have daily interaction and I am amazed at the waste, both time and money that is apparent.

A huge wash through all departments, asking everyone to justify their job would make a few people blush and struggle.

Working longer = welcome to private sector
Paying in more to pension = if lucky enough to have one , welcome
NO paid overtime = welcome to private sector
Huge targets and workloads = welcome to private sector
Ruthless job cuts without consultation = welcome to private sector

And before you say but our jobs are hard to do when we are 67, tell that to the 68 year old cleaner, factory worker, call centre operator.

Really you aint got it that bad, and I hope these strikes prove to us all that even if you dont work for a full day the country will still troop on

Zelazny

Credit-Crunched wrote: »

bus / train to work = private
coffee on way in = private
buy lunch in supermarket = private
call into bank to pay cheque = private
re-fuel car on way home = private
phone up sky / electric to change account = private

To be fair, the bus/train bit does not function as if it were in the private sector, as different companies are given effective monopolies on certain journeys, and are in some cases given large amounts of taxpayer cash to make the routes feasible.

It's also interesting to note that of all the things you mentioned, the bus/train staff are the only ones I can recall striking in the last 20 years.