why aren't public sector salaries linked to how well the country does?

ILW

ruggedtoast wrote: »

I'm not sure how many Volkswagens you think someone on £20k a year is going to buy anyway.

£8k for a brand new one.

Probably just the one.

chewmylegoff

ruggedtoast wrote: »

I'm not sure how many Volkswagens you think someone on £20k a year is going to buy anyway.

i'm not sure how many teachers there are on £20k a year either given that the average starting salary for a teacher is £23k, which apparently rises by an average of 30% in the first 4 years, i.e. £30k.

http://www.education.gov.uk/get-into-teaching/salary.aspx

Norfolk_Jim

How does it affect the economy when all those unsupervised uneducated teenagers go on the rampage as they are prone to do?
Bad News for insurers
Good news for police, firemen and building trades
Bad news for the uninsured and those who'se businesses get torched
Good news for those who want to tool up and modernise.
Winners and losers - but working out the exact balance is a bit more difficult.
Close down the schools, private schools only - good or bad for GB plc, you decide? Personally I think you might see a short term gain followed by a long period of loss - even the USA funds basic level schooling.

ruggedtoast

chewmylegoff wrote: »

i'm not sure how many teachers there are on £20k a year either given that the average starting salary for a teacher is £23k, which apparently rises by an average of 30% in the first 4 years, i.e. £30k.

http://www.education.gov.uk/get-into-teaching/salary.aspx

I see, now you're starting on teachers. After all they do.

Naf

chewmylegoff wrote: »

p.s. not really sure why it's an outrage that one should have to spend their own savings before claiming state benefits, but there you go.

I don't think its outrageous personally, although I think the threshold needs to be brought up to date. Realistically someone ought to be able to save for a deposit on a house IMO.
I do think that if MPs were in the position that they had to do it, they would reconsider the way they impose it on others.

The_White_Horse

of course it is an outrage. savings SHOULD NOT be taken into account when it comes to benefits. why should the !!!!less who went on a holiday every year be rewarded, when the ones who were sensible and saved be punished????

rtho782

In my opinion all benefits should be contribution based, income based benefits should just be abolished.

Anyway, back on subject, while all the public sector workers harp on about pay freezes for the next couple of years, I didn't get a single cost of living pay rise from early 2008 to May 2012 with my last employer (a national company employing over 10,000 people) due to the "economic climate". I then got made redundant. I've been in this job since May so I guess I'll let you know next year about payrises here.

Public sector workers get a freeze for a year or two then get to go back to their "RPI+1%" type payrises and carry on complaining about the removal of their final salary pensions that are being replaced by still generous non-contributary or contributory with a massive employer top up stakeholder scheme that is still better than many private sector pensions.

BobQ

Eellogofusciouhipoppokunu wrote: »

You say 'career average' as though it's a dirty word.

No I didn't. You stated: " If they then wanted to keep their final salary pensions they would have to accept a lower salary. " I was just drawing your attention to the fact that final salary schemes are already being phased out.

Personally I think careeer average schemes are the way to go for the public and private sectors. But as usual people would rather campaign against public sector schemes rather than for private sector schemes to be similar.

thescouselander

What a bunch of whingers. If you don't like your remuneration get another job - in the public sector if you think things are so rosy over there. If you can't be bothered to improve your situation then that's your fault. Put up or shut up I say.

N1AK

DevilsAdvocate1 wrote: »

In the private sector you don't get a pay scale. Over the last 14 years, my husband has had maybe 3 pay rises. At one point, the whole company took a 10% pay cut for 18 months. It was this or even more redundancies. Also, during his time there, there have been at least 4 rounds of redundancies.

When the pay cut was reinstated, it was classed as the payrise for that year, so still an effective paycut.

But he has a job. No pension though.

We need to get out of this mindset of us vs them with regards to the public sector. I have numerous issues with how many aspects of public sector employment work; but focusing on only those as a cause of private sector pay issues isn't productive.

The idea that this thread if based on is pretty much redundant. The issue isn't that we should do it, but that government 'meddling' in pay generates a lot of anti-government sentiment. Nurses won't vote Tory if the 'Tory' government freezes pay, but if BUPA for example froze pay (a private company) the government won't get the blame.

There are so many people in the UK employed by, or financially supported by the government, that any government that acts against their wishes risks losing the next election. We've given the Turkeys the right to vote on Christmas and shouldn't be shocked if that means Santa doesn't come for a while.