so the strikes tomorrow

[Kieran_E1]

surprised jon's not put a poll up yet.

thoughts , opinions?

personally i think civil servants have no idea just how good they have it when it comes to pensions and should put up and shut up.

the superannuation scheme has cost this country for years and years but the unions are shifting to focus to the recession and banks etc etc trying to blind the obvious reality that it cannot continue in it's current form

[Matt]

i agree with the above but in all honesty dont know the in's and outs, what i do know is mates of mine that are striking tomorrow get paid far too much, get waaaaaay too many holidays and all have a pension etc.and dont get me started on sick pay.


i have a day off, not only do i not get paid but i still have to pay garage bills etc. holidays...well the same goes for that. grrrrr

[Fake Ben Taylor]

Dont agree at all - Public sector have had it way too good for way too long. and hannah is going to be working int he public sector and my dad does too, so its not just a biased view

the pensions after the reductions are still better than anything in the private sector so they will still be better off and those earning under 70k are either getting a better pension deal than current or arent going to lose much at all.

we worked out the difference in hannahs pension and taking an average gps wage her pension will drop from 70k a year to 58k a year and cost her an extra £13 a month i dream of a pension like that

[Ken]

Should be glad they still have a job, so many in the private sector are suffering much worse

[TheBigShow]

I have two family members striking today. so i kind of have to agree.

my support for it is based on nothing but that, but to be fair couldnt care less either way. They wont be affecting my day, wont be stopping what i normally do.

i wonder if i have a sympathy strike i would get anything?

[alanjuggler]

on the whole, I disagree - but there's a few specific instances where I can fully understand it.

some local authority schemes are fully funded and really, have no reason to change. the extra contributions will not give a better pension or cover any shortfalls in funding in their well run scheme, they'll be covering shortfalls in *other* pension schemes.

[nevins]

I say its a simple answer, you strike and you are out, there are plenty of people willing to work who can not find a job, kills 2 birds with 1 stone.

[ian_83]

Lots of people in the public sector have lost their jon Ken. We lost about 30 staff and we're all going through a pay review so they can try and take more money off us. I wouldn't say the public sector have it easy. Yeah we have flexi time, but thats it. The work I do is way out of my pay grade. As soon as I can get into the private sector im going to jump ship.

[sideways14a]

Large parts of the public sector are staffed by utter fvcking mongs that couldnt do a proper job in the private sector because they would be thrown out the door in prompt order.

I strongly disagree with these strikes, to me its just the socalist arseholes wanting to beat the crap out of a "tory" government again. Get a grip, the countries in shit, Europe is in the shit and the world is skint - folk need to realise there little comfort zone is shrinking.

And I work in the public sector

[Nicks14a]

I work for the council, I'm not striking but by the looks of my office it seems everyone else is! It is crap as the public sector at the minute isn't as secure as everyone seems to think, we are having pay reviews, reshuffles etc constantly. To be honest though there is so much dead wood within the public sector it is untrue and it probably does need thinning out as sideways said there are a lot of mongs in this place!

There ought to be good pensions for all though as opposed to just damaging the only good ones left

[Raceworx]

i like the way people take the veiw if i get a shit wage and pension then nobody else can have a good one!

I say its a simple answer, you strike and you are out, there are plenty of people willing to work who can not find a job, kills 2 birds with 1 stone.

thats right **** those lazy teachers lets get some dole scum in to teach our children/run schools/hositals/public transport ect ect

remember people anyone can do your job regardless of training and education so you better think yourself ****ing lucky to even have a job.. and stop moaning when we dont want to pay you what your worth, remember we can drag anyone in of the street..

PS i work in the "hard hit" private sector and couldnt give a mokeys about there pay and pensions it doesnt affect me but rather than see them braught to my level i would rather try and get myself to their level..

[Raceworx]

cutting dead wood i have no problems with.. but ill bet you any money the people who get told to "find said dead wood" are the overpaid midle management dross that need cutting..

there are far bigger savings to be had in the public sector than attacking pensions. how about slashing all these private consultancy firms out.. or private maintinance companies that charge shit loads for changing a light bulb or cleaning the buildings..

[itrhondaboy]

My Missis is a teacher, she's in bed still she's only just started in her career And doesn't want to strike and doesn't even understand what's going on! As she's happy with everything, doesn't see why people are whinging! She asked if she has to strike and the head said yes because the doors will be locked

I used to be a postie and when everyone went on strike I worked and got verbally abused called scab etc, basically got made to quit after that as everyone was a Cnut to me after that! IMO that wasn't fair the postal service is going to shit (not the posties fault management changing start times to save money) but the way I saw it, why should I strike lose a days pay I can ill afford and then be a day behind in my work meaning I just have to work twice as hard the next day and carry twice as much post?? And the strike never achieved anything

[Cluck]

I am in a very unusual position in that I have never been employed either in the public or private sector - I've been self-employed all my working life. I'm thus finding it quite hard to separate the emotional 'fcuk them, I don't get a pension unless I pay into it from the rational "how would I feel if my employer changed all the terms of my contract".

My mother was a teacher through the 70s, 80s and 90s and refused point blank to strike. She made sure she was always in a union that had a 'no-strike' rule. There were 2 reasons behind it :-
1. She went into teaching to teach. Not for the rewards, not to strike when the contract changed, but to teach. Striking would stop her teaching
and
2. She suffered immensely when her father (my grandfather) went on strike 'to uphold his principles' as she put it. She was constantly hungry, short of clothes and other essentials. It's probably this, more than anything else, that galvanised her view that striking is wrong.

So, I voted to sit on the fence. I don't agree with striking myself but I can understand why some are doing it and feel aggrieved at the changes to their contracts.

[MEL]

The public sector includes police/fire/ambulance/armed services, nhs, teachers. Imho i think these sectors are all massively undervalued and for the most part do more for this country than they should given thier levels of pay etc. If they were paid what they are worth (short term outlays for major long term savings) then i guess the unions wouldn't feel the need to hold this country to ransom at a time it really cant afford it.


You're generally mixing these people up with the lazy, self serving morons that populate local government and are only out to line thier pockets. Public sector salaries should be capped at whatever level the PM is on currently.

Generally i dont agree with the strikes, the economy is going down the shitter and everyone is in the same boat. Suck it up and just do your jobs like everyone else has to. You've had gold plated (or near enough) pensions for 30+yrs since the last major recession in the 80's and its not just you that will have to work until your 67.

Wasn't there only about a 40% turnout to the ballots for these strikes? I wonder what the actual yes vote % was. That suggests to me that most people couldn't give a toss and are just latching on for the sake of it

[Dr Bob]

we worked out the difference in hannahs pension and taking an average gps wage her pension will drop from 70k a year to 58k a year and cost her an extra £13 a month i dream of a pension like that

tbf though mate that's slightly different to your average A+E nurse though isn't it.

i'm not denying as a GP i get reasonably paid, but it's not a walk in the park by any means, and it's not exactly 'collect 10 crisp packets and become a doctor'

i'm not on strike today, in fact i'm doing extra to ensure that we provide a service while someone else is on annual leave. i'm not getting overtime for it

I can understand the reasons for the strike and i respect why folk are out there.

what really irritates me are the muppets who are rolled out by the media complaining that they've had to take a day off because the schools are closed - does no-one actually realise that teachers and the education system are enabling them to work in the first place

anyway, didn't we have this discussion last time there was a public sector strike

[Cluck]

Wasn't there only about a 40% turnout to the ballots for these strikes? I wonder what the actual yes vote % was. That suggests to me that most people couldn't give a toss and are just latching on for the sake of it

IIRC, some of the unions (UNITE maybe?) only had an effective 'yes' vote of 25% of their members. HOWEVER, that is only based on what I heard coming from a government official on the radio, so I have not looked into it to see how true or how widespread (across the various unions) that figure is.

[schumi84]

I work in the public sector, my fiancee the private and she has said that they have already had all the their pension stuff messed around with so can't see why all the public sector workers are having such a hissy fit about it, was bound to happen sooner or later.

I personally can't see what good can come of the strike today, what it did mean though is that the roads were clear on the way to work due to there being no parents dropping their children off at school

[Daz]

Get back to work you lazy sods .

Public sector have got it good........good for so long that they think it's average.

[sideways14a]

the roads were clear on the way to work due to there being no parents dropping their children off at school

Yeah i noticed, got into work in just over one and a half tracks on the stereo