'Do you support Wednesday's strike?' poll

shropshirelady

neilaitken wrote: »

Yes, you should have done. People in the private sector should unionise and fight for their own fsir pensions rather than demanding that we all go to the lowest common denominator. People need to take a look around them - there is money in the country; it just happens to be in the hands of the few.

But the few with the money are not the owners of the many small and medium size companies in this country who would very quickly go out of business if they had to pay 14%+ of each employee's salary into their pension fund. I believe this is what happens in the public sector.

Saetana

Lifes_Grand_Plan wrote: »

I have seen a lot of misinformed ideas spouted and it is really quite annoying.... people telling me that striking is wrong even though they don't know what they are talking about.

This link is useful to get the other side of the story: http://www.unison.org.uk/pensions/myths.asp

Its hardly an independent opinion though, is it? I think that whilst talks are continuing there should not have even been a ballot, the numbers of people who actually bothered to vote were small for most unions, hardly a massive mandate for strike action and something that I think will result in there being minimum voting percentages set at some point in the future.

Understand this, outside the public sector there is little sympathy for people who have jobs striking and waving banners (yes I've been into town today), even having their small children carrying banners (disgusting and manipulative behaviour!), when there are many people looking hard for work in a tough jobs market and plenty of private sector employees who are no better paid than you supposedly are (if not worse) and will still end up with worse pensions than you.

I have no sympathy for any of you, time to face the reality of the mess that Labour and the financial crash have left us in :mad:

Saetana

neilaitken wrote: »

Yes, you should have done. People in the private sector should unionise and fight for their own fsir pensions rather than demanding that we all go to the lowest common denominator. People need to take a look around them - there is money in the country; it just happens to be in the hands of the few.

There speaks the voice of the left

deadrobot

The majority of people don't seem to realise that not one penny of the increases applied to pension contributions will go into anyone's pension pots, it's going straight to the treasury to pay off the deficit left by bailing out the banks! That's the problem!!!

loops298

I have worked for the Civil Service for much of my career. My wages are below average for my skill set, but is justified by my 'gold plated' pension.... after 40 years of service, the maximum amount my pension will be worth is 50% of my salary, so the nurse earning £34,200 after 40 years service who would receive a pension of £22,800 is very lucky. The average CS pension is less that £5k

For some reason the government have turned all the countries woes on us, NOT the Bankers who continue to receive mega pay rises and even more obscene bonuses. I am currenty on a 3 year pay freeze and it has just been announced that when the three years are up, we will get no more than a 1% pay rise for the following two years. This of course will be wiped away by the 3.2% increase we will be contributing to our 'non-contributary' pension, which in reality is an additional tax for being a public sector worker.

We are also going through a massive redundancy programme, and getting criticised for not completing projects on time, brought about by the lack of staff!

Somehow the Govt has turned us into public enemy No 1, even though we are employed by them to support their policies. But they don't seem to be applying the same rules to themselves. And believe me, the Labour Party are no better, they had similar plans.....

But don't worry all you Private Sector workers who are out to attack us, the Govt are looking at privatising much of us, so soon we'll be sitting with you. Unfortunately, so far, every project that has been outsourced or privatised has cost far more than leaving it in house.

larlit

BrianM1975 wrote: »

I think those in the public sector need to take a look at themselves and remember that it is the taxes of the private sector that pays them and their future pensions.

Have your day of action if you will but ultimately it will make no difference as there ain't enough money in the pot to pay for it.

Erm, excuse me but as a public sector worker I pay my taxes too and am sick of having my wages frozen and pension hiked because the Gorvernment holds the purse-strings - if the greedy bankers had had their pensions cut and their pay capped, we wouldn't be in the financial mess we are in now. Compared to private industry, public sector worker are paid less and have none of the perks they have - think before you write!!!

deadrobot

loops298 wrote: »

so the nurse earning £34,200 after 40 years service who would receive a pension of £22,800 is very lucky.

The person who made that statement is being misleading, I work in NHS payroll and the top salary for a Band 5 regular registered nurse is £27,625.
£34,200 relates to the top salary for a Band 6 nurse, which is a specialist nurse.
It's amazing how they manage to twist everything. And that they begrudge a nurse a decent pension so hopefully they can get someone to look after them when they need it, after having spent 40 years looking after others. :sad:

weesiecodal

So instead of all falling out with each other, why dont we get a petition to confront the politicians about their own pay, conditions and pensions? Is it not the case that they have to discuss something if a petition reaches 100,000 supporters? Was that not the case earlier this month with fuel prices?

loops298

hey deadrobot, please don't have a go at me - that quote is on page 2 of this Thread and was written by landsker. I have no idea where the figure were obtained, but I would be surprised if they were true.

I do not begrudge any nurses getting a decent pension, I was merely trying to point out that as far as I am aware anyone getting that type of figure is lucky, I don't happen to know the nurses pension package, but I suspect it is the same as mine, so I am suprised by the figures being quoted.

I'm not trying to twist anything - honest. If nurses have a better package than I do then that is great as I feel they are fully taken advantage of for doing a job they love.

disting_2

I am furious at the present strike (yet again teachers, etc).Personally I would have liked to march against the strikes but have a job where people would notice if I didn't go in, oh and I'd probably be sacked.
I personally do not know anyone that supports it-the only ones in the country that might are those who know little about the cushy number the public sector has had for a while now, or just don't care about, or understand pension issues yet. Possibly at one time the gold plated pensions and early retirements could just, and only just, be justified because the average public sector worker earned less-this is not true today either however!. Recent figures I read said it would cost a private sector worker 25000 pounds a year just in pension payments to get the same benefits!! The country cannot afford this nonsense.
Personally i wish the government would get MUCH tougher on the whole of the public sector and have the same pension arrangements and retirement age for everyone in the country. That would be a totally fair system, and also then those who have been living in la-la-land public sector will finally know what its like for the rest of us.
If the government want to canvass support I wish they would explain to the rest of the population exactly what a great deal the moaning public sector workers are still going to get even after the proposed changes.
Wake up and smell the coffee.
(Aside...Unemployment going up......well that's a surprise!-if the retirement age keeps getting increased. Surely better to lower retirement age for all, and pay pensions rather than benefits- surely its better to have wrinklies on the streets than unoccupied youth!.) Amen