Public sector strikes

[Rotorboater]

I see the country was at a standstill today as the public sector striked - NOT!

Are they shooting themselves in the foot by striking, we now know we don't need most of them anyway

[Pete S]

Faulty logic:

The strikers' duties were covered by backroom staff brought out for the day> The backroom peeps' own jobs were abandoned for the day.

Not a sustainable situation in the long term.

[AerBabe]

Am I off in my own little world? I had no idea there was a strike!

[Vince C]

Even less support for it than there was last time. Those interviewed on Beeb news last night all parroted the same whinge; "We're striking to protect our pension rights".

They don't seem to have noticed that pensions for today's workers ain't what they were; for anybody (except MPs, of course, which should also change).

I'm lucky in that I have a final salary pension, but I'm one of the last; my erstwhile colleagues have 'money purchase' schemes with no guaranteed payout, and those changes have been pretty universal across professional private sector jobs. Even where final salary schemes still exist, they are largely closed to new members and so are a dieing species.

The public sector workers cannot expect to be protected from these universal changes at the expense of those who are not so protected. I think many realise this, hence the dwindling support.

[Carole P]

If they wish to lose a days pay and money towards their pension then so be it, I can understand anyone wishing to fight to protect such a gold plated pension but they can't on the one hand complain about cuts in services if they are unable to offer up a solution to solving the deficit ( goodness that sounds so much like last nights finance meeting I attended!)
I'm afraid they are the last people to have their pensions changed, perhaps if they has supported all the private sector workers when their pensions were being destroyed by Gordon Brown people would have more sympathy.

[Peter Pan]

Is there a strike? Not noticed the world coming to an end.
I do have a grand in a Civil Service pension from when I worked at the DHSS after school. Not bothered about it and certainly not going to fight for it (took me 20 years to find it!).

My own personal pension that I have paid into for years and hoping to retire at 55 is now peanuts and I wish I had put the money into property, which is what I am doing now. I have lived in the commercial world where change happens and you have to accept that. I have no sympathy for the strikers, especially having worked there for 6 years and no what an easy life some of them have (and I say this having been on holiday with 2 civil servants last week who confirmed things are mostly the same now).

[AndyR]

Just had the Unison rep in the office quoting the 'protect our pensions'. As my public sector pension is worth all of £600 a year (not a misprint, only been in for three years and hadn't intended on being in that long) I had to chuckle. I did ask how these gold plated pensions were to be safeguarded whilst being affordable without bankrupting the country. There was no answer forthcoming, just that the pensions have to be protected. At all costs. Hmmmmm. Yes there should be some protection IMHO but there will never be the type of pensions offered in the past as they have proven to be unaffordable, both in the public and private sector.

Those currently working and in their forties and younger may just have to accept that the age of decent pensions as being enjoyed by those currently retired are gone (indeed three of my team are drawing pensions that are more than my salary, having retired and then returning to a 'job for the boys' to eeek them out until they are 65). I personally think I will be working well into my 70's. (I should possibly have invested in property rather than a commercial flying licence too, but sometimes following one's heart is more appealing and may allow a more enjoyable life, albeit a skinter one )

[Jim Jones]

Strikes are a way of protesting, the public sector protest is not meant to create disruption, but I think succeeded in making the statement. whether it has any impact is another thing altogether, remember the Iraq war protests?

[AerBabe]

Those currently working and in their forties and younger may just have to accept that the age of decent pensions as being enjoyed by those currently retired are gone

I have a final salary pension...
Always said I was special.

[matthew_w100]

Cobblers. A reduction in pension benefits is exactly the same as a pay cut. When you are employed it is on a package of pay and benefits. These may include wages, holiday, gym membership, private health, bonuses, etc etc, but at the end of the day they are what you are given in return for your labour. If the value of your pension is reduced that is de facto your remuneration package being reduced. It is not unnatural for you to wish to complain. As did the BA cabin crew.

[matthew_w100]

And, by the way, is "gold plated" synonymous with "final salary"? Because my pension may be final salary, but its value in actuarial terms is still rubbish compared with the contribution based one I had at my previous employer. It's less risky which *to me* has a value, but equally has less opportunity to be worth *more* than expected.

[bar shaker]

the public sector protest is not meant to create disruption, but I think succeeded in making the statement.

It would be jolly good of them to make that statement one day a week, every week, then Jim... thereby saving the tax payer 20% of the public sector wage bill.

[Jim Jones]

the public sector protest is not meant to create disruption, but I think succeeded in making the statement.

It would be jolly good of them to make that statement one day a week, every week, then Jim... thereby saving the tax payer 20% of the public sector wage bill.

The governments already doing that for them, so no need.

[Paul_Sengupta]

Cobblers. A reduction in pension benefits is exactly the same as a pay cut. When you are employed it is on a package of pay and benefits. These may include wages, holiday, gym membership, private health, bonuses, etc etc, but at the end of the day they are what you are given in return for your labour. If the value of your pension is reduced that is de facto your remuneration package being reduced. It is not unnatural for you to wish to complain. As did the BA cabin crew.

Well, yes, that's the point really isn't it? Reduce money out? Increase money in?

Hence the tax raid on private pensions. Hence no (or very few) pay rises in the private sector in the past few years. In 5 or 6 years I've (along wtih my colleagues) had one 2% pay increase. In the meantime my final salary pension has been axed, my pension pot has been raided for tax, the retirement age has gone up, etc.

If we go on strike now, will we get back what was taken from our pension funds? Will we get to retire at 60 on a full pension? I don't expect so. Has my remunreation package been reduced? Yes. Both by my company and by the government. That's the way it is these days. If you haven't had this happen to you, you're probably living in some sort of bubble.

When, as is the case in Germany, the public sector earns about 2/3 of the equivalent in the private sector, there may be cause to give some extra benefits in the long run. But when the public sector pays 15% more than the private sector (in some parts of the country anyway) then I don't think they have any more cause for complaint than we did.

Where are these jobs with gym membership?! Having said that, we got to use the local gym/pool in Stockholm (Kista) when I was working out there.

[MikeB]

As did the BA cabin crew.

Not quite.

BA offered a pay rise in exchange for the reduction of 1 cabin crew per aircraft ( which meant that the senior cabin crew had to work the trolley)

The Union (whose reps were mostly senior cabin crew who would have had to work harder with the new deal) refused to negotiate. BA eventually imposed the changes and the strike arose.

Amongst the more crazy aspects of the strike, the Union at one point actually proposed a pay cut for CC in exchange for the return of the senior crew member! (BA refused this on the grounds it was unfair and did not make the required cost saving)