Strikes

[Boromir]

So who's going to go on strike?

 

Up to 3million could go on strike.

 

I cant even save for a pension yet.

 

Its not a public poll so vote away.

Edited September 14, 2011 by BFG

[ack-ack]

I work for myself so sticking it to the man is only going to affect one man.

[Beretta28g]

Why poeple go on strike when unemployment is sky high is interesting; at least they ave a job.

[tigger]

Why poeple go on strike when unemployment is sky high is interesting; at least they ave a job.

:good:

[ack-ack]

Why poeple go on strike when unemployment is sky high is interesting; at least they ave a job.

 

 

Exactly. What has striking ever achieved in the UK? Nixy!

[Boromir]

With all this Health and safety high costs of labour and materials and the threat of Strikes all the time why would a new business want to set up in this country?

[libs]

Any public sector worker who goes on strike should crawl into their oven and inhale deeply for 3 hours.

 

 

The last thing this country needs is mass/any striking. I do not sit on the fence with this issue, they don't know how good they have it!

[kdubya]

Many public sector workers, accepted the fact that they are poorly paid but had decent pension/ benefit packages, changing the goalposts (for some just when their retirement would be due) is not on.

 

Public sector workers did not create the financial mess we are in, poker tactic bankers (spelt with a W)and inept govt did, now they want to hit joe soap? if they really want to save money, they could start by limiting or even stopping altogether housing benefit and income support to non nationals who see this country as a soft touch and who have made no net contribution to the welfare state I.E. earned that benefit.

 

KW

[del.gue]

Whether or not the strikes are right, I bet Bob Crowe and all the other union leaders won`t lose pay while their members are striking!

[Tim Kelly]

Many public sector workers, accepted the fact that they are poorly paid but had decent pension/ benefit packages, changing the goalposts (for some just when their retirement would be due) is not on.

 

Public sector workers did not create the financial mess we are in, poker tactic bankers (spelt with a W)and inept govt did, now they want to hit joe soap? if they really want to save money, they could start by limiting or even stopping altogether housing benefit and income support to non nationals who see this country as a soft touch and who have made no net contribution to the welfare state I.E. earned that benefit.

 

KW

 

That is all true, but it's also the classic position taken by unions and people who are used to secure jobs and not as aware as they might be about the volatility of the work market outside the big employers.

 

The fact is, the country is where it is. There's no point moaning about it or striking because it's unfair, we just all have to keep our heads down and try to work our way through it. Personally I'm a lot less cross about the banking lead crisis than I am about the bloody Olympics which I will have to pay for over the next 10 years or more through my council tax as I live in London.

[Mungler]

I too am self employed.

 

I wonder how many self employed people regularly throw a sicky, go on strike, take public sector quantities of holidays....

 

It used to be the case that public sector workers got less in return for an easier life (working hours, holidays, pension and job security). Interestingly though, under labour the public sector wages went up and are now on parity with similar jobs in the private sector. The brass tacks are the country is skint and the public sector has too many people working unproductively in it.

 

Take Scotland 25% of people in work, work in the public sector - seriously, how the **** does that work? How does that work when trying to balance the books?

[keg]

It wasn't just the bankers that got us to where we are. A fair percentage of the population ( including a number i know) spent and spent, either knowing they had no hope of paying it off or expecting the value of their house to climb to cover it so it's not just the bankers.

 

Remember our new communist govt at the time were also happy to be raking in the taxes created by the banks and consumer spending. It's all three sectors that have got us to where we are.

 

Let's remember that all economies are cyclical and we are where we were after the last labour govt got booted out in 79.

 

The country is like a household, you can only spend what you can't afford for so long.

 

Mungler, could not have put it better myself. Our friend has just been made redundant from the govt office. His role would not exist in the private sector and he has been paid off to retirement age depsite not working there long.

 

The private sector has had the pain for the last 2-3 years why shouldn't the public sector have some?. It grew by over a million under new communism with brothers Blair & Brown.

 

Rant Over

Edited September 14, 2011 by keg

[Asa Bear]

I'm a fireman. I already pay 11% into my pension scheme. We have accepted a three year pay freeze.

 

I will vote to strike if the government tries to force me into paying another 3% on my pension contributions and working for an extra five years.

[Tim Kelly]

I'm a plumber, I haven't put up my hourly rate for the past 4 years, and have dropped the price of some fixed price jobs. I have no pension. Striking would really help me....

[Dave-G]

I'm a taxi driver - dependant on peoples spare cash. There ain't much spendo about and taxi fares have not risen in line with inflation. I have not been able to even consider a pension. I'm 60 this year and cannot see a time that I will be able to afford to stop working, remember he who voluntarily ceases work gets no benefit.

[bignoel]

striking doesnt seem to get anyone anywhere who lisearns

[Asa Bear]

I'm a plumber, I haven't put up my hourly rate for the past 4 years, and have dropped the price of some fixed price jobs. I have no pension. Striking would really help me....

 

 

 

Maybe you were charging too much 4 years ago. Dropping the price of jobs when the materials are ever increasing suggests that.

 

Not paying into a private pension scheme is your choice. Everybody has the opportunity.

[Asa Bear]

Any public sector worker who goes on strike should crawl into their oven and inhale deeply for 3 hours.

 

 

The last thing this country needs is mass/any striking. I do not sit on the fence with this issue, they don't know how good they have it!

 

 

 

 

 

 

Yes boss. Sorry I spoke boss. What condition of service would you like to take off me now boss? Gee I'm grateful just to have a job. Please don't whip me boss!

[Vince Green]

I haven't got a lot of sympathy for the public sector workers and thats despite my wife being one. Why should they feel they are exempt from the same effects of the downturn as eveybody else. They still have some of the best T&C in the country.

A lot of them have no idea what the real world is like. Its not all about the firemen and the NHS. Public sector covers a lot of people that don't do more than sit on their bums doing very little compared to people in the real world. Like the council workers who regularly sit parked up under the trees in the road adjoining the side of our house for hours at a time smoking, drinking coffee and reading the paper.

[ME]

Let them strike, I don't give a flying one. It wont effect me and wont get them anywhere.

 

I work for myself and only do a 3-4 day week, if I went on strike no one would notice

[Flashman]

Does anybody in a union read a paper? Look at what's happening in the rest if Europe: the threat of sovereign default and eye-watering austerity measures to cut national debt. Portugal's VAT will go up to 23%, Greece may as well shut up shop, 20%+ of young Spaniards out of work, etc. Suddenly, the moaning of our public sector workers pales into insignificance.

 

Then look at the UK public sector. Who believes that the NHS - the third biggest employer in the world after the Chinese PLA and the Indian railways - provides value for money and cannot be reduced? Or that councils provide a decent service to their communities? Or that the Post Office shouldn't simply be shut and monkeys employed to steal your valuable parcels?

 

Let the unions strike: see how long it takes the rest of the population - who still have to travel to work, conduct business, keep roofs over their family's head - to back the government to the hilt.

[Mungler]

Does anybody in a union read a paper? Look at what's happening in the rest if Europe: the threat of sovereign default and eye-watering austerity measures to cut national debt. Portugal's VAT will go up to 23%, Greece may as well shut up shop, 20%+ of young Spaniards out of work, etc. Suddenly, the moaning of our public sector workers pales into insignificance.

 

Then look at the UK public sector. Who believes that the NHS - the third biggest employer in the world after the Chinese PLA and the Indian railways - provides value for money and cannot be reduced? Or that councils provide a decent service to their communities? Or that the Post Office shouldn't simply be shut and monkeys employed to steal your valuable parcels?

 

Let the unions strike: see how long it takes the rest of the population - who still have to travel to work, conduct business, keep roofs over their family's head - to back the government to the hilt.

 

 

 

 

 

Flashman for President of Europe!

[Tim Kelly]

Maybe you were charging too much 4 years ago. Dropping the price of jobs when the materials are ever increasing suggests that.

 

Not paying into a private pension scheme is your choice. Everybody has the opportunity.

 

I had more work than I could handle four years ago, now I keep busy, but my income has dropped at least 20% in actual money, inflation not even taken into account. I would have to contribute about twice what you put in for a similar pension as your employer at least doubles your contribution. I'm not complaining about my situation, I just have to accept it and get on with it.

[Asa Bear]

I haven't got a lot of sympathy for the public sector workers and thats despite my wife being one. Why should they feel they are exempt from the same effects of the downturn as eveybody else. They still have some of the best T&C in the country.

A lot of them have no idea what the real world is like. Its not all about the firemen and the NHS. Public sector covers a lot of people that don't do more than sit on their bums doing very little compared to people in the real world. Like the council workers who regularly sit parked up under the trees in the road adjoining the side of our house for hours at a time smoking, drinking coffee and reading the paper.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

You're right it's not all about the fire service & NHS. However two fire stations have already closed in my county with more redundancies to follow. Yet the workforce are still expected to increase contributions with a reduced income.

 

In the meantime management positions are being created in departments such as "arson reduction" and "anti-social behaviour intervention team".

 

When a workforce feels totally unvalued. That's where the desire to strike comes from.

[Tim Kelly]

A good friend of mine went to university, got a first class degree, went to work for the government at the met police forensic labs, spent 20+ years becoming a highly skilled and specialised forensic scientist. The government decided to close down forensic science all together, so she's got no job, a very specialised skill set and nobody looking to employ her. She has re-trained herself for a different job and is now looking for work there. **** happens, but the trouble this time is that those people who thought they had done all the right things and were set for life are now having to realise that there aren't many jobs, or even trades, for life and you have to adapt and become more flexible in the world as it is today.

 

Striking and union power really does belong in the past. It never seems to be for the good of the industry and usually leads to the eventual shut down of an industry that can't pay it's way any longer as the workforce won't work!