30/11 Strikes.

nkata said:
Why is there the need to have an equal pay and rewards structure between central London and the Outer Hebrides.
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You're talking out of your **** - there is no pay equality between London and the rest of the country - nearly all public sector salaries have a weighting for inner and outer London - take a look at the teachers pay scales for example.
 
dirtydog said:
Ah yes that is the argument of the strikers and unions isn't it.

Well there simply isn't enough money for everyone to have a great pension. It has to be paid for. I know leftists don't understand this concept. They think there is a magic pot of cash somewhere which can be plundered ad infinitum. Trouble is, that pot isn't magic, and it isn't bottomless, and the cash in it comes only from working people who do productive work to give the money value.
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In the case of my local LGPS scheme the pot is good enough for at least fifty years after the restructure three year ago. It's no cushy civil service pension where it's paid out of incoming tax revenues, it's a fully funded pension like most private companies used to provide. There's no need for a 3.5% contribution increase, the government have already been forced to admit the additional revenues would be used to pay back the deficit.

Oh, and I'm no leftist militant union nutter. I'm a right-wing Tory who is on strike to protect his pension.
 
topshot said:
judging by the amount of teachers missing from the group outside the school it would appear most got cold and went Christmas shopping, handy having a strike on payday :rolleyes:
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The law limits the amount of picketers you can have - generally 6. you can't have the entire staff stood on a picket line.
 
Goberpiles316 said:
Oh well at least benefits have been increased the lazy can sit by, pay no tax and pick up an increase.

I sometimes wonder who the mugs are here, go to work, pay your tax and struggle or sit at home, get a house free, and seem to have a great life.

Got a great story of a guy and women who have had 5 kids, no income, free house, sit at home all day, when they had the 5th kid they get provided with help for 2 hours each day for free to do the washing and cleaning, what has this country come too.
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Yep. I've had a pay freeze for years, but the public sector workers are moaning that they're only getting 1%. Well okay it's tough, but if they were Irish, Spanish or Greek public sector workers, they'd have been getting a 15% pay CUT.

This is why I laugh when there is talk of 'massive austerity' and 'deep cuts' - they are no such thing when you compare the UK to the unfolding catastrophe in the euro zone.

Yet the unions think we in the UK live in a vacuum and can keep pretending that everything is fine, keep borrowing and printing and spending more and more, as if this is sustainable and won't lead to ruin.
 
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MagicBoy said:
In the case of my local LGPS scheme the pot is good enough for at least fifty years after the restructure three year ago. It's no cushy civil service pension where it's paid out of incoming tax revenues, it's a fully funded pension like most private companies used to provide. There's no need for a 3.5% contribution increase, the government have already been forced to admit the additional revenues would be used to pay back the deficit.

Oh, and I'm no leftist militant union nutter. I'm a right-wing Tory who is on strike to protect his pension.
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Obviously, you are not. Nobody who is conservative could support these strikes without being a hypocrite.
 
sammo62 said:
Yeah all teachers are out living the life of Riley right now. None could possibly be sat at home marking work, planning lessons etc. :rolleyes:
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Kind of defeats the idea of striking if working ar home?
and yes those powerpoints sure take some planning. I love how teachers bang on about how much planning etc they do. From what i witness its all the same material re-used each year, and the teacher i live next too seems to have plenty of free time - wish i could take 4 weeks travelling in summer :rolleyes:
 
dirtydog said:
You don't 'pay back' a deficit. Do you understand the difference between deficit and debt?
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Yes. I've got an A-Level in Economics.

I'm going to quote the Guardian again :

http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/reality-check-with-polly-curtis/2011/nov/28/pensions-public-sector-pensions said:
The Treasury accepts that the contribution increase is designed to help reduce the deficit, rather than improve the longterm viability of the pensions system. It has said it will raise £2.8bn from the policy. The money will not go directly into reducing the future costs of public sector pensions, but paying down the deficit. In that sense this is a political decision to make public sector pensions contribute more in this way to the deficit reduction programme. It's fair to argue – as the unions are – that this is an additional tax on state employees. All governments make decisions to target savings or taxes that affect different groups for example smokers via tobacco taxes, parents via childcare cuts or commuters via rail fares.
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MagicBoy said:
dirtydog said:
TBH the strikers are like spoilt children. They are being offered something which is very generous given the economic gloom affecting the whole world economy, not just today but for the foreseeable future and maybe forever. Yet instead of recognising this and getting on with it, they throw their toys out of the pram and want more - more of other people's money. They MUST be resisted, their blackmail must fail.

Also personally, if it were legal which I suppose it isn't, when there comes the need for redundancies, the strikers can be first out the door.
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Rubbish. They're taxing local government workers pensions to pay back the deficit. I call that stealing.

The strike is legal. I doubt my line managers (all three of whom are in the union) will be firing me for striking, as they also are.
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He never said the strike wasn't legal, he said it wasn't legal to make the strikers first out the door when it comes time for redundancies, which is illegal, sadly.

And no they are not taxing local government workers pensions to pay back the deficit, the money coming in is less than the money going out its that simple, something has to be done but the problem is people have had an overly good deal for so long that when the time comes for a normal deal everybody starts fighting for "their rights" and crap. the deal being offered by the government is extremely generous considering the current economic state.
 
dirtydog said:
Why would a self-proclaimed 'right wing Tory' like yourself, use that leftist rag to prove your point?
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The Guardian is one of only a couple of papers with good journalistic practises. I might not agree with their leftist editorial leanings, but that doesn't bar me from reading it. On this occasion they're printing the truth.

I might be a right wing Tory but that doesn't mean I'm some blinkered idiot who only reads the Telegraph and cheers with joy every time he sees Boris Johnson.
 
I think all I and others are saying is this: you can have as generous a pension as you like, so long as YOU pay for it.

Why is that not fair?
 
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