Public sector workers strike Wednesday

[Ada7]

This is a big deal for me at the moment due to my work and i\'m still really undecided about what i\'m going to do.
I\'m not after advice on what i should do, whatever that maybe in the end is my desision but i would like to hear what you guys know about the situation and what your thoughts are.

Adam

[Will66]

Messing with pensions is an emotive issue, the Government have their eye on mine in 2015.  I can\'t go on strike though and it rather hacks me off really.  Why should my future be compromised because financiers are too myopic to realise that lending money to people who can\'t afford to pay it back is a bad idea and then expect the government to bail them out when inevitably they can\'t pay the money back?  The government expects a lot of the people it employs public servants in whatever manner, far more than is expected of people in the private sector on comparable salaries, I think we understand that we need to make savings but I think public sector pensions are an area that should be off limits to cuts.

[jetpilot]

It would seem no one is safe from current cuts and the money troubles we are in through no fault of our own, we are all in the same boat, pretty much!

However, im not sure i like the concept of striking as there are plenty of employed people who are getting shafted and they just have to put up with it or not have their job!

Being held to ransom is imho, not the way to do it! And if the figures that are being bounded about, about its cost, even anywhere close, is not going to help anyone in the country!

[wolfie1]

leave the eu, stop handing out all our money to other countries who dont want to help themselves, stop spending millions giving methadone to junkies, stop spending millions of pounds in meetings to work out how to save millions, put proceeds of crime back back into local councils to help sove money issuses, i could go on but yea you get my general idea. my sis, my g/friend, brother and his wife all are affected from this cause of there jobs so have heard all about it so know what you are talking about

[jord13b]

i think that if you go on strike, it should be your decision and feel that what your doing will help your personal situation.

Im a technician at our local college, and im in a trade union which is all going out on strike wednesday..... but i have decided not too.

The reason being is that the government keep putting age of retirement up each year cause i reckon they havent got peoples pension money available, cause they keep spending it! to say people pay into a pension, as i do, and they freely spend it. not right.

But, im not striking cause i figured ive got over 40 years left to work and i doubt ill ever be able to retire with the way things are going, so for that reason im out.

plus, i wont get paid if i go on strike, so this is what i told my gaffa...

"im not going on strike because i wont get paid for sitting at home, doing nothing. id sooner come to work where all teachers are out. so students sent home meaning i wont have to do anything at work! so id sooner go to work, sit around and do nothing and get paid!"

F*ckin smart!

completley up to the person and what you believe in. if there was going to be massive job losses on my level, then yes id strike, but one day is pointless. Indefinate industrial action is the way to get things done

[jetpilot]

leave the eu, stop handing out all our money to other countries who dont want to help themselves, stop spending millions giving methadone to junkies, stop spending millions of pounds in meetings to work out how to save millions, put proceeds of crime back back into local councils to help sove money issuses, i could go on but yea you get my general idea. my sis, my g/friend, brother and his wife all are affected from this cause of there jobs so have heard all about it so know what you are talking about

There seems to be so many levels on how this country "could" save money and pretty much agree with your thoughts above!

Whether read in a paper or not, did i not hear we hand out roughly 50 million to the EU every week?

How many billions has it cost us to be at war, Iraq, Afghanistan recently our intervention in Syria over the last 10 years+?

How much is it costing us to bail out Greece, Ireland and next probably Spain, Portugal and Italy?

How many billions are we paying to immigrants to live here?

How many billions have we sent out in Aid relieve, Haitti, Africa etc?

Whilst there may be many arguments to the pros and cons of some of the money we have spent above, i plain and simple dont get why we do not sort ourselves (this country) out first and then and only then, start worrying about other such things mentioned above.

If we had the debts levels as a government do now, but all that money had been spent on getting this country straight and working, im not sure many would complain, but what % of our debt has benefited us as a country!

I saw a documentary the other week about our involvement in the EU, or more so, the EU itself! By all accounts economists flatly warned that a one currency made of many states (like USA) would not work (again see USA, some states thriving some on their knees)) and we are seeing the evidence now, however it was ignored! I was also gobsmacked to know Britain is still owed huge sums of money from bailing out US states from years gone by!!

Why is it so difficult to follow the expression, look after the pennies and pounds will look after themselves and look after your own home before any other!

[jetpilot]

if there was going to be massive job losses on my level, then yes id strike, but one day is pointless. Indefinate industrial action is the way to get things done

When you went into public sector work, were you guaranteed a job for life?

[jord13b]

When you went into public sector work, were you guaranteed a job for life?

hell no!!! there going through every public sector cutting anything that makes the firm run.... i.e people on the shop floor earning peanuts, rather than manager level. where they work the same hours, sat pushing pens all day for 4 times what we earn!

whole systems corrupt!

[jetpilot]

Your not wrong there, but thats business, generally the more you earn the less you have to do!

But i dont get it, if they were threatening masses job losses, why would you strike? As you say, you werent guaranteed for a job life?

Private sector workers are being laid off left, right and centre, they dont have the option to strike, they just have to grin and bear it, but because a lot of public sector jobs affect the day to day operations of this country, the unions throw their toys out the pram and hold the country to ransom, which i think is wrong.

[jord13b]

Your not wrong there, but thats business, generally the more you earn the less you have to do!

But i dont get it, if they were threatening masses job losses, why would you strike? As you say, you werent guaranteed for a job life?

Private sector workers are being laid off left, right and centre, they dont have the option to strike, they just have to grin and bear it, but because a lot of public sector jobs affect the day to day operations of this country, the unions throw their toys out the pram and hold the country to ransom, which i think is wrong.

yeh i totally agree. private sector workers are very unfortunate in that manner, and your right, unions get mardy about everything! lol but its nice to have that back up. You aren\'t very safe even as a union member still... if managers want you out, theyll find a way to get you out!

id strike for job losses because its something i feel would need backing up there and then, unlike pensions, for me, in 40 odd years time.

Plus im with a really good union, and they cant sack me for striking, but wont pay me.... but the union will cover all your costs/bills while on strike, so no real loss in that respect.

my job at my last college was in threat 3 times in space of 2 years... i had to re-apply for my job and be interviewed 3 times.... they made me resign 4 contracts, cutting my pay each time, but my union got involved and guns went blazing, which im thankful for. eventually i was lucky enough to get a job at my new college, as my job role is very rare.

they tried all they could to cut down technical staff, but they dont understand how much work we actually do untill were gone, hence i was happy to leave them dangling in the :censored::censored::censored::censored:! lol

[jetpilot]

Plus im with a really good union, and they cant sack me for striking, but wont pay me.... but the union will cover all your costs/bills while on strike, so no real loss in that respect./QUOTE]

As i am completely naive to unions etc, where do they get the money to cover such bills?

[jord13b]

Plus im with a really good union, and they cant sack me for striking, but wont pay me.... but the union will cover all your costs/bills while on strike, so no real loss in that respect./QUOTE]

As i am completely naive to unions etc, where do they get the money to cover such bills?

id imagine from the government! haha!

but you pay your fees, which is a percentage of your wage, i pay about £14 a month

[Brett]

Again emotive issue... nationwide strikes seem to achive very little overall - but do have a very negative impact on how the rest of the world views your country... striking when times are fair to good may work.. striking when times are tough only seems to increase the hurt.

I guess the question is this:  What does a strike actually get you?  Right now I can\'t see a lot of pluses to the strike movements.

[Jojo]

I can only speak from an ambulance person\'s perspective but I, personally, will be striking on Wednesday.
 
Currently my pension will be worth about £7000 per annum and I will be entitled to collect it from the age of 65. I can only imagine how much that\'ll actually buy me by the year 2042 :o
 
With the proposed changes I will be paying almost £100 more a month in pension contributions over what I already pay now. On top of that I will not be able to claim this pension until I am 68 and it will be worth only £6000 per annum.
 
I don\'t really envisage being able to live off £6000 a year in the year 2045. I don\'t really see how I am going to swallow another £1200 annual pay cut having already lost £1200 in the meal break deal (which we did not take industrial action on), or the £800 cut enforced on us with the unsocial hours cut.
 
None of these issues have reached the press and we are working more and more shifts, often not getting our half hour "lunch" break until 8 or 9 hours into a 12 hour shift...sometimes not getting it at all.
 
For myself, I found deciding whether to strike or not a difficult decision too. People don\'t work on the ambulances for the great salary....there isn\'t one...they mostly do it because they care and want to make the worst day of someone\'s life (let\'s face it, u don\'t have an ambulance out to u on a good day...the only happy job we have is child birth...as long as it all goes to plan!) a little bit easier and more bearable. However, to loose £3k from my salary in 2 years and to leave my with a very uncertain retirement, where they expect me still to be able to carry 15stone patients down the stairs at 67, I reached the decision that enough was enough. Even if nothing changes I have said "I disagree with this".
 
Just my pounds worth!

[jord13b]

^^ nail right on the head!