Preparedness for when

GreyQueen

the_cake wrote: »

We're jammin' ... oh yeah we're jammin' .... hope you like jammin' too!
(Or I would be if I had more jars)

:rotfl::rotfl::rotfl:

Funny, I was reading through, hearing that in my head, and there it was in front of me - great minds think alike.

Re the strike, its because the pay offer is 1%. Me and mine had 5 years of nowt, last year we had 0.5% (£80 for the year on my net wage, in case you're wondering, didn't even cover the rent increase) and now we are offered 1%. We'd need a helluva increase to put us where we'd've been if we had had 1-2% for each years when we had nothing. We're doing the same jobs for a lot less money, and our bills are going up, same as everybody else's. People are packing up their spotted hankies and leaving, citing the wages. Can get more in the private sector. And we can't recruit some professionals because what we're offering ain't the market rate for that skill-set and experience.

Can't really get a satisfactory explanation why us local authority and education bods should be thrown under the bus by the grubbyment to balance the books which were unbalanced by the actions of the banking and finance sector.............. We didn't muck it up, pal, why should we personally pay for putting it right?

:mad: Actually, I do know perfectly well why. As George Carlin said; it's a big club and you ain't in it. We're not in the position to offer politicians the enticements of big fat consultancy fees and 6 figure salaries for 'jobs' involving a few days 'work' per annum, so why bite the hand that they intend to feed them by going after the bankers et al? :mad:

I had a thought. I am a Taxpayer, so presumably I own part of Lloyds. I'd like to have the bit I own so I can flog it on the open market. Reasonable, hey?

Went from work to home for a brief snack then up to the allotment. Lovely day after a carp weekend. Picked some moer blackcurrants and did some more weeding. May well have to think about jamming, although the thought of boiling sugary liquid in a kitchen as small as mine is frankly scary............:p

charlies-aunt

Possession wrote: »

I was given blackcurrants too which I've never cooked with before - anything other than jam to be done?

Make some crème de cassis :T started now, it will be ready for Chr*stm*s :T

VJsmum

We in University have had those crap pay rises too (though I admit our pay is on a higher scale ). We aren't striking on Thursday as most of us are in the UCU rather than the LA union (Unison?).

So what is the collective noun for Bankers? A Wunch :rotfl:

Garden wise - i have been worse than rubbish this year. We have had some strawberries and raspberries, and the goosegogs need harvesting. But there is precious little else Just no time.

Haven't even made the fruit farm yet, to get jammin provisions - really, really rubbish. Though I have given up sugar, and the rest will eat any old rubbish so maybe i should not stress

Having given up sugar (and wheat), i have been reading and watching around some of the theories of obesity / diabetes (diabesity ) and the shenanigins of agribusiness and food manufacture is truly shocking. It seems they will only legislate once the demands on the health service outweigh any business benefit from the sales of crap food. Surely that time must be near? Shocking that the population gets ill but business makes huge profits - no more from me, i'm afraid. "Bet you can't eat just one"? "Once you pop you can't stop" "The sweet you can eat between meals without ruining your appetite"????? Yeah, cos you make sure we keep eating them. Disgusting.

[Deleted User]

I guess businesses aren't in business for altruistic reasons and thier only remit in life is to make as much profit for thier shareholders and for expansion of the existing business as they can, at whatever cost thier product happens to exact from the population. It's probably not as immoral as it sounds written in black and white, it's viewed as good business practice and the advertising and slogans are part of it. The silly thing is that for businesses to be able to keep making a profit from the population, there has to be a population who are prepared to keep buying the product and we must be close to the point where some of us at least can see through the whole silly situation. It is not impossible to stop buying unhealthy products but they're nice and we all like them so we probably won't, and the whole shenannegins will roll on the way it always has. The real problem is how fats and sugars have pervaded ALL the foods we're offered in the food shops now, very little isn't sweeter or doesn't have added ingredients to give 'mouth feel' and enhance flavour and we're all so 'time poor' that we want an instant meal so until that changes the food producers kind of have us over a barrel don't they?

GreyQueen

I don't work in business, lyn. I work in the public sector. This is a public sector strike. We provide things from taxation to the general public which mostly could not be afforded by the majority if they had to provide the money for them out of their own income.

Back in the 1970s when I did O Level economics, it was explained with the streetlight example of why capitalism, in its purest forms, just doesn't work.

If a person were to take the attitude that we as individuals should only have what we can pay for out of our own money, and if you haven't sufficient money - tough - it all falls down when you hit the public sector.

Take the streetlights. Do you pay for the streetlights on your personal street, or part of the street, because you benefit from them? And not for those on streets you traverse rarely or never, because you, personally, aren't using those? There are parts of even this city where I have never been; logically, should I give a monkey's about the state of lighting and roads in them? I'm childless, so why should I care about educational standards for other people's children in state schools (playing devil's advocate, I care considerably)?

It goes on and on. And in the private sector, the government doesn't get to dictate the percentage of pay increases, or forbid them entirely.

I can tell you that for the last several years, certain departments of my LA have been running consistantly below strength, despite advertising frequently. Can't get the people we need because the wages are lower than the private sector. One private sector peep I know has just pulled down 15% increase - and that's across the board for his colleagues.

Because the public sector is a big chunk of the workforce, wage suppression for us is economic suppression for the whole economy. We can't all by city financiers or captains of industry or have a side-gig with rental properties. Somebody gets to educate the children, sweep the roads, shelve the library books, tend the vulnerable, mend that paving slab someone's grandma has just fallen over, and, in my case, answer the calls and the emails reporting these issues.

Ultimately, we have very little power, unlike tanker drivers blockading fuel distribution centres. We can't put the proverbials in a vise like that. What we provide is very important but TPTB ususally have sufficient wealth to buy their way out of the public sector in education, healthcare etc, so why should they care about Joe Public's domestic crisis if the kids won't be in school this Thurs?

I see it as a clear example of the two-tier society which we live in and the contempt which our rulers show for us plebs.

lobbyludd

and in the NHS too. 1% last year 2 years of nowt before (and no, no increments either, as I was transferred to top of scale under the agenda for change), as yet no decision this year (in Wales).

jobs within industries provided by the private sector (even if heavily subsidised by the public in tax "avoision", and sweetner deals) that "generate" wealth (although at best all they do is divert it, often from the consuming public at large to richer private individuals) are seen as better by this grubbyment than those that have actual intrinsic value to human beings (caring, educating, keeping civil order etc etc vs branding, marketing, sales, product "R&D"). Even jobs that are exactly the same (admin, call centre, payroll) are seen as of somehow "inferior" worth if in the public sector - although arguably it is much harder and more important work to a society to be a receptionist in a hospital than in an investment bank.

smoke and mirrors - the media have done a damn fine job of divide and conquer on the masses. but we need to stop looking across for the villains who are raking in all the cash for doing nothing of use and start looking UP.

so I'm off to feed my kids, get them to be educated and then to work on improving treatments for people with cancer.

I should be shot really.

GreyQueen

:T Bravo, lobbyludd.

Of course, when you suceed with the improvement, you must make sure that anything funded by the public sector is witheld from the oligarchy as a matter of principle, even if it would save their lives. We have to be business-like, y'know, even if it hurts.

In my happy fantasy land, our con-dem MP bust their car's axle on one of our roads, or their leg on tripping one of our slabs. Oh dearie dearie me, that could never have been predicted when you slash several mill per annum from the LA's budget, year after year, could it?

mardatha

Quite a lot of talk about this ebola outbreak in west Africa, and teh Commowealth Games coming up in Glasgow soon. They have already declared they won't be doing any health checks at airports..

Frugalsod

pineapple wrote: »

Unfortunately this wouldn't apply to me as I would be relying on my UK pension

Different things are more expensive, baked beans are very pricey as is alcohol, but crisp breads are cheap, and so much better than here. If you can adapt to the local diet it is a lot cheaper. Restaurants are cheaper during the day than at night. It is something that you need to look much more closely at. If you cannot drink and really do not like baked beans then it is much more affordable.

The real problem is that if you are abroad will your pension be upgraded? Many people have emigrated and are living on a pension that never gets larger, particularly Australia. Not sure what happens to pensions within the EU.

jk0

mardatha wrote: »

They have already declared they won't be doing any health checks at airports..

('Cause that would be racist, wouldn't it?)

Flaming government putting everyone's health at risk due to political correctness.