Dr.No

Just out of curiosity....and a quick SN straw-poll:

Whether you're working in the public sector now, or the private sector (and please be honest, as I'm guessing that there will be a massive public/private difference of opinion) - what do you think of the strike next week?

Jimbob

iTrader: (13)

Sack the lot, there are LOADS of people (like me) who are unemployed, and would love a semi secure job for life.

I`ve worked in the public sector in local government, and seen the chronic waste. Its always the people high up on super wages who keep their jobs and the people at the coal face delivering the services who are shat on, and thats NOT to do with the Government, its these pencil/paper pushers who sap the money and life out of departments. As the majority have no idea how the real world works, and base their poxy lives on the courses they went on, or the socialist drivel they read in Uni, that everyone is born equal but some are more equal than others. Animal Farm (the original) is so much like local government its unreal. And they all want to keep their noses in the trough for as long as possible, doing as little as possible, and claiming to do the job because they "care".

stilover

All that strike, sack.

zip106

You can't just sack them for striking.

I understand their beef (sort of), but many of us who are either self-employed or work in the private sector aren't going to get a very good pension either!

I work longer hours to put more aside....

Adrian F

i moved to the Public sector from the private sector due to redundancy and in the process took a very large wage cut. i work just as hard in the public sector as i did in the private, i do get more holiday not that i want it i would rather have more salary.

When i joined my contract was a salary and Pension i see this no different to having a salary cut imposed.

i understand the cost of pensions is high but i am paid less than the equvilant jobs in the private sector so maybe they should match the salary and then i could afford the extra pensions contribution required.

I believe if they are changing the pensions then it should be for new staff and not retrospective.

zip106 i think your right if people want money let them it by working over time, my job doesnt pay overtime it gives you time off in leu so when i worked 12 hours on a sunday i got 12 hours off during the week. I am not allowed to do extra work in evenings etc for any other employer with out permission inadvance either.

jef

iTrader: (13)

think there entilted to stand up for what they signed up to tbh,

Luan Pra bang

If there was any money left to pay their high pensions then fair enough, the reality is that the money is just not there, if these public sector employees are really so sure of themselves they can go and get a real job and see how well they do.

tarmac terror

iTrader: (2)

I would not support strike action or withdrawal or labour, it will not achieve anything in itself, dialogue is the only way to resolve this.

I think it will suit the Government agenda to divide and increase the resentment from the private sector towards the public sector, then the cuts will be wide and deep.

Me - I am a public sector employee, I work around 50 hours per week Monday to Friday, I am on call to my department 24 hours per day every day of the year (not legal I know - but we are short handed), and will regularly take work home when the need arises. I have a team that care deeply about the service we deliver. I had two staff who were stereotypical civil servants, I got rid of them in a long and hard-fought battle. Where the public sector falls down, is its management, people with no ability or experience in leading people or controlling a business find their way into relatively senior positions as the internal selection process is not particularly rigorous. I do acknowledge that there is a huge amount of fat in the public sector - regrettably my own organisation is no different, not everyone fits the stereotype of 14 sick days per year, which is viewed as an addition to an already generous annual leave and public holiday entitlement.

Jamz3k

My missus can't go to her night tech course on Wednesday because of this. This is a course I have paid quite a bit of money for so that I can get at least 2 nights a week to chillax without her constantly annoying me. For this alone I do not support the strike action.

f1_fan

iTrader: (9)

Not wanting to have a go here, but you say you have effectively had a pay cut because of this and that is unfair. Well I am self employed and earn about 70% of what I earned 3 years ago and work harder if anything. I think in times of austerity we have all got to take a bit of pain and some of you in the public sector do not seem to get that.

Clarebabes

I agree with you 100%. I work in the public sector and have done for only 6.5 years, so this is not going to hit me quite as hard as some who have been there from school and who are the same age as me. They would have put in loads and are exempt from the new offer - if you're over 50 - so they're really missing out. I cannot do overtime to make up the difference and it is unlikely I am getting a pay rise for the foreseeable future. Luckily I am on adoption leave, so at least I won't lose a day's pay for not going in next Wednesday!

Felix.

Yes you can. If you strike, then you are breaking the terms and conditions of your contract.

However, if they sack one - they will have to sack them all.

Midlife......

iTrader: (2)

.......not quite right as my employer has emailed saying that as the strike is against my employer and me striking is not construed as "secondary action" then I can go on strike.

Shaun

JonMc

iTrader: (51)

I support the issue to a degree in that I am one of those who joined a long-time ago on certain T&Cs with an expectation that I would get so much at a certain age. When I signed up the public sector were worse off than that private sector but I made my bad and slept quite happily in it. My biggest gripe is that I don't understand the impact (they haven't fully assessed how they intend to change military pensions) and as a result I cannot plan for the future. I am a realist and understand that changes must be made and fully support a balance and sensible approach, and TBH I will probably cut my losses and move on once I understand the impact as the pay freeze, cull of 'non-essential' allowances that means I am out of pocket whenever I work away (which is quite a lot) and the career stagnation as a result of the defence review are all conspiring against those of my generation.

As for strike action, get real people, do you not realise just how despised your greed is making you.

Iain250

iTrader: (1)

My wife works in a small nhs practice - none of them are going to/want to strike although the practice has to be shut as some of the girls are union members and opening it would infringe on their rights to strike should they want to.
Jeezo ho hum

need4speeduk

iTrader: (26)

So people think its fair that you should have to work for longer until you retire and pay more towards a pension fund, when none of the money you'll be paying actually goes into a pension fund, but rather spent reducing the countries deficit?

Get real.

Stop paying bankers 6 figure bonuses, stop the NHS paying managers who cant manage to tie their shoe laces inflated saleries, stop people spunging of the state their entire lifes, stop giving every Tom Dick & Harry free housing, Stop selling off everything British to other countries, etc etc etc

This country is going down the pisser big time. The honest working man is treated like a mug, the justice systems a fookin joke, old folk that fought in wars cant even afford to heat their homes etc etc etc

Stand up and fight for a change rather than letting the pr*cks in Westminster walk all over you. I bet their lives are more than comfortable when they retire.

EddScott

Public sector pension is just unaffordable due Labour allowing public sector pay to get out of hand.

Its tough but the money was never there in the first place. No sympathy here, the public sector has been turned over by Labour. Sttiking is a very Labour thing yet none of them accept its their unions that allowed the gravy train and held their hand out for too long.

Felix.

You can still strike - there is no law stopping you. But its still classed as unauthorised absence from work and they can take action against you. But they can't simply pick and choose amongst the ones on strike. They will have to take action against all of them.

need4speeduk

iTrader: (26)

The government "STOLE" £1.4 billion of OUR money to save Northern Rock going on its ****. Now they're selling it to Branson for £600 million.

Our money, tax payers, but did we get a say in it? No. Were we asked if we'd like OUR money spent bailing out banks? No.

Then they sell it for a £800 million loss. And these are the pr*cks running our country. I'm no Bill Gates but a £800 million loss sounds like pretty sh*t business to me.

Thats £800 million towards the pension fund p*ssed away. And now the checky fookin banks have the nerve to report quarterly profits of xxx amount of billions. If we can bail them out when the sh*t hits the fan because of their greed then they (Along with others) should spend some of their xxx billions in profit back to the country instead of p*ssing it away having 5 star diners at the Savoy patting each other on the back saying how well they've done.

ALi-B

iTrader: (1)

£800 million is a pittance compared to the £100 BILLION Brown stole from tax payer's pensions and plundered/wasted it all. That's ignoring the £10 billion loss he made in gold which also makes the Northern Rock bailout look like a pittance.

need4speeduk

iTrader: (26)

My point exactly though.

Its the feckwits running the country p*ssing away all the money, yet they all live in million pound homes, have mega pensions, 4 holidays a year etc etc

No wonder the number of brits moving abroad is at record numbers. This country is going down the swanny

stilover

Idiot.

Public sector workers think it's UNFAIR that they are being made to work to the same age as the private sector.

Public sector workers think it's UNFAIR that they are being asked to contribute more to their pension fund, even though most private sector workers will only get a small percentage of a pension compared to the public sector (like for like pay)

For an average private sector pension to be worth that of an equivalent public sector pension, the private sector worker would have to put in over half their wage every month into their pension pot. Is that FAIR?

Dr.No

That's a very naive way of looking at it.

Although your figures are incorrect, and dont show the true picture - even using your numbers - £800m loss today would be MUCH better than a £900m loss tomorrow, especially if NR is losing £200m a year.

It's very much a case of getting out of the deal the MAXIMUM that's possible - given the expected time to turn around and the losses that it's making. Labour got the country into the mess with NR (and possibly justifiably so) - but you can't sit on a loss like that, without realising some cash for it, for ever.

need4speeduk

iTrader: (26)

Firstly, **** you for the idiot comment.

Secondly, I'd imagine earnings in the private sector far outweigh most people in the public.

Whilst my numbers may be wrong and I may have a simplistic veiw of things, the fact is the average worker in this country gets screwed left right and center.

Leslie

Spot on.

Les

Lee247

To be honest, my pension is worth jack $hit and I have been paying into it for a long time.
Who do I complain to and would me going on strike improve it in any way.

EddScott

I don't think so, perhaps in the very high echelons of power.

The problem is the middlemanagement/executive type salaries - of which you could argue teachers are one of them - there is just too many of them. If you have these middle management folk that 5 years ago were on £30K and now they are £60K+ these people need pensions and the pensions are linked to salary (some anyway in basic terms).

The unions and Labour are using the media to say that its mostly going to affect the little people but thats just a smokescreen IMO.

The unions could have asked questions about the affordabilty of all this and didn't. No one thought to ask Labour where all the money was coming from for all the shiney new council offices = find your local council offices and I would put money on them being at most 5 years old. At least in wales the best buildings in the land are the council offices whilst our schools rot from the inside out.

If my daughters teachers are stood outside the school on Wednesday expecting support I'm sorely tempted to point out a few home truths to them.

jasey

Public sector workers - Where were they when their one eyed leader was robbing private sector pensions.

F*ck the lot of them and sack the ***** !

We pay their f*cking pensions anyway - they are paid by US !!

hodgy0_2

what I find interesting and amusing to some extent, is the way the whole debate is being framed

it is classic argument of the lowest common denominator

so not "how can we get private sector pensions to be as good as the public sector" but "how can we make the public sector pensions as **** as the private sector"

the bottom line is earn less than a 100k in either sector and you are fvcked to be honest (and your children and their children too)

GlesgaKiss

Lol, what? In what way are you 'f*cked' if you earn less than £100k?

You do realise that the only reason 'your children' are f*cked' is because they are on the hook for the enormous debt racked up trying to pay for things we can't afford? Perhaps this will come as a surprise to you, but the private sector pays for everything! Therefore the logic of being p*ssed off with large debts while also condoning the furtherance of levels of public sector entitlements disproportionate to the private sector is slightly contradictory, no?