Public sector strikes on Wednesday

[REKIBorter]

My sons school was closed today. All the staff turned up to catch up with work instead.

 

[FluffyChicken]

Save in a pension, not at the moment. I need that extra money now for may family.
By the time I retire, i'll be in hospital having joint replacements and god knows what.
The only pension I have is a few years when I was earning enough to afford to put into it.

I'll join the millions who'll blag of the state, when we eventually retire and figure it all out then when the government suddenly has to support us all.

Of course that's many tens of years away and as has been seen many things change and the retirement age will be well into the 70's/80's and they'll suddenly find the young whipper snappers have no place to go as the old farts are not leaving their jobs.

Wait for the next bubble(s) to hit.
But retirement will be 40 years of my my reckoning. Figure it all out then.

and I work in a Private/Public/Independent call it what you want (fee paying) school and they all pay into the teachers pension scheme. Perk of the job

 

[Rumble]

Exactly, if I was a tesco shareholder i'd have a legitimate interest in the packages they pay their staff, and whether that represents both good value and something the the company can afford in the long run. I'd not give a stuff have much IBM pay their staff.

And scougar, playing ifs, buts and maybes is pretty easy, and doesn't mean much at all. For example, if I get killed tomorrow, or emigrate, i'll not cost the state a penny.

Demonising the banks is another conversation altogether. Certainly, on a global scale, some were reckless and that even had a knock on effect on some banks that were relatively well run. But while they were doing all that irresponsible lending, don't you suppose lots of us were doing irresponsible borrowing? At least a share of the blame must filter down to the individual level.

Finally, as for the issue of affording pensions, I'm not having a pop at anyone here but I think there's a generation gap that means you don't understand the reality of our financial world. My circle of friends, mostly well educated, in our mid/late 20s and in professional careers, have never known the good times. We started earning just in time to get a foot on the property ladder at the height of the market. Buy as soon as you can, best investment you'll make we were told. Now we know that was a mistake and we're saddled with expensive mortgages on places we can't sell as we're in negative equity. Most of my friends dip a little further into the red each month, so tell me where they should find the money for pensions from. Now that's all a real pisser, but shit happens. We're not looking to blame anyone or to be bailed out. Fortunately we are on an upward curve in our careers and can realistically expect to earn a lot more than we do now in time. So we can plan ahead with at least some degree of confidence.

As I said, that's not designed as a dig at anyone. It's simply the financial landscape that we live in. In all honesty nobody really minds the public sector trying to get what they can, more than anything it's that they (or the (unions who make all the noise) seem to lack perspective.

 

[Easy_Rider]

lol, yes.. funny how it was gonna cause £500m worth of chaos BEFORE the strike, and now it's a "Damp Squib" AFTER. Perfectly spun by the gov ;-)

Let's be real clear... it's not public sector workers fault that private sector has awful/expensive or no pensions. Was chap own the news who owned his own business that didn't have a pension. I can see his side, but at the end of the day a gov job is just like working for a REALLY big company, you get the benefit of that.. and when you work for yourself you don't. Next he'll be having a pop at IBM or Tesco, and how dare they even have pensions.. because he doesn't. (A bit harsh, but you can hopefully see where I'm coming from).

The difference being its the 29million total work force paying the 6million public workers employees contributions, while only a third of the 23million private workers have or can afford a pension. The private workers are paying for the 6million to have that pension through taxes. As far as I can recall there isn't a tax on all the workers to give tesco employees a pension? I don't think anyone is suggesting that public workers should take the same raw deal as private workers but just to understand times are tough. How can teachers defend an employee contribution of 12%, that's all our tax money while the teacher pays 8%? It's unsustainable.

Most agree there should be cuts in government spending to reduce to reduce the deficit, these cuts have got to be made somewhere.

 

[Easy_Rider]

We know an audiologist who's not in a union, she went to work today to find out that all outpatient appointments were cancelled, she was pretty annoyed. There were others who resorted to cleaning. She believes the decision to cancel all appointments was taken higher up by a pro striker.
There wasn't any need to do that as many patients could have been seen as usual.

 

[technodup]

But while they were doing all that irresponsible lending, don't you suppose lots of us were doing irresponsible borrowing? At least a share of the blame must filter down to the individual level.

No, no, no. It was ALL THE BANKS FAULT!!!

This is one of the biggest lies around. Debt is a two way street, people were loving the rise in house prices, they were maxing the cards, taking out mortgages, BTLs, equity releases and all sorts because they thought it would never end. Then when it did end the banks and the Tories get the blame...

And the very same folk complain about "the rich" who have the sense not to put all their eggs in one basket, who invest in liquid assets or horror of horrors, profit from shorting a falling market.

A bit of personal responsibility wouldn't go amiss in this country.

 

[taylorsummers]

But while they were doing all that irresponsible lending, don't you suppose lots of us were doing irresponsible borrowing? At least a share of the blame must filter down to the individual level.

No, no, no. It was ALL THE BANKS FAULT!!!

This is one of the biggest lies around. Debt is a two way street, people were loving the rise in house prices, they were maxing the cards, taking out mortgages, BTLs, equity releases and all sorts because they thought it would never end. Then when it did end the banks and the Tories get the blame...

And the very same folk complain about "the rich" who have the sense not to put all their eggs in one basket, who invest in liquid assets or horror of horrors, profit from shorting a falling market.

A bit of personal responsibility wouldn't go amiss in this country.

+1

I see the 3 main union guys are laughing all the way to their pensions. Upwards of 40% contributions to their pensions, salaries of 100k+ while living in housing associations house. Easy life!!!

 

[technodup]

I see the 3 main union guys are laughing all the way to their pensions. Upwards of 40% contributions to their pensions, salaries of 100k+ while living in housing associations house. Easy life!!!

Innit. Bob Crow was on the mic today in a nice Polo Ralph Lauren jacket.

Nothing wrong with that in itself but just seems a bit wrong for him given his members are so poor they can't afford a 3% rise in contributions. I'm all right Jack.

 

[highlandsflyer]

I see the 3 main union guys are laughing all the way to their pensions. Upwards of 40% contributions to their pensions, salaries of 100k+ while living in housing associations house. Easy life!!!

Innit. Bob Crow was on the mic today in a nice Polo Ralph Lauren jacket.

Nothing wrong with that in itself but just seems a bit wrong for him given his members are so poor they can't afford a 3% rise in contributions. I'm all right Jack.

Jesus.

Does anyone understand that socialism is NOT about having no quality or fashion.

 

[Tazio]

This thread depresses me.