Public sector workers

[coccyx]

Are they right to be considering strike action? Are they out of touch with rest of workforce in UK who are taking jobs cuts. Was listening on forces radio to a discussion about it and one professor said they were some of best paid workers, when comparing like for like jobs with private sector. Bit out of touch here in Saudi!!!

 

[bluebaby]

Well it depends exactly what sector is striking and what for. I am in the public sector and i have a pay freeze for 2 years, I'm not getting a pay rise and I'm happy to take it if it helps out with the recession.

 

[xxembobxx]

I am in the public sector and i have a pay freeze for 2 years, I'm not getting a pay rise and I'm happy to take it if it helps out with the recession.

Well done to you Unfortunately I have found that most public sector workers expect pay rises every year and all the other perks which private sector workers don't tend to benefit from as much.
I am totally against the strikes as I'm jealous and bitter lol. I haven't had a pay rise in years. I don't get sick pay and I don't get a pension. I don't even get a lunch break! And to hear the people that do moan about how hard they have it is really galling.
I happen to come into contact with bin men in my employment. They went on strike as their pay was to be reduced due to the fact women on the same scale had been awarded equal pay. I can understand them being upset they were going to lose money but they were getting 3 years advance warning. If you don't like it ... get another job ffs. It was well known the council workers can take a year off sick with full pay. Seriously how can we sustain that?
And they get paid "tuil job done". So basically they did a couple of hours work and got paid for 8. They park up somewhere for a couple of hours so they don't get back to the yard too early as they might have to work a full day. I honestly feel council workers don't have to work as hard as the rest of us as they have twice the employees a regular company could afford.
Sorry to rant but my council tax is extortionate and it bugs me when I see money wasted on wages which could be reduced if the workers worked as hard as I have to.

 

[xxembobxx]

I should add my friend works for the council in their offices and she is a very hard worker but her department has seen staff cuts so she doesn't have much choice.
I am not saying all council workers are the same .... just relating my experiences of the ones I came into contact with.

 

[Blah11]

I don't blame them for striking. Everyone else can, why shouldn't they?

 

[binxyboo]

I'm a nurse. It is actually in my nursing code of conduct that I am not allowed to strike.
I have also taken a pay freeze for 2 years because of the recession.

 

[TattiesMum]

To be honest I think we all need to consider the bigger picture Public Sector workers quite literally work for the good of the rest of us and they are considering striking not in relation to pay freezes but as a reaction to major cuts and job losses .

Job losses in the public sectors like the NHS, Police, Fire Services, Schools, Rubbish Collection and Council Departments like Housing and Environmental Health etc are going to affect all of us for the worse So in one sense their striking will highlight what is to come if these really stringent cuts come in.

 

[MrsVenn]

Well it depends exactly what sector is striking and what for. I am in the public sector and i have a pay freeze for 2 years, I'm not getting a pay rise and I'm happy to take it if it helps out with the recession.

Same here too and we're going through the first wave of redundancy.

 

[Eternal]

I think those who have a job at this difficult time should be greatful for it. i appreciate it does suck not to get an increase but surely people at this difficult time should just be greatful for what they have.

I mean we knew this was coming, the conservatives plainly stated it in their manifesto and whatever you feel about the party they won the majority of votes so obviously people were prepared to accept that.

before people think of sticking they should think of all those hard working people who have lost their jobs and be greatful that at least they have one.

 

[bluebaby]

The thing is when you strike you don't get paid so you really have to believe in what your striking for when you go on strike because at the end of the day its the striker that suffers. We haven't striked about pay because we realise that it is necessary to take a pay freeze but we are very thinly stretched because of redundances.

 

[blahblahblah]

It makes me mad when I hear public sector workers moaning. I work in the private sector and haven't had a pay rise in 5 years. It seems crazy to give people pay rises and perks, not to mention the all too common culture of doing the bare minimum, which I'm sure exists in the private sector as well (although I've never seen it there). Why should people expect special treatment because their wages are paid from our taxes? They should be grateful to have a job at all in these difficult times.

I have family working in the public sector, and they work very hard, but they agree that the way the council runs things are riduclous. In some areas they can't actually afford any staff anymore - each time someone leaves they just get extra agency staff because it works out cheaper than all the overtime and perks they'd have to fork out for with someone permanent.

 

[Aidan's Mummy]

Tough one really. I am training to be a nurse. If I was working now I wouldn't strike (not allowed to anyway I think) because my job is to care and it isn't the people in my cares fault the goverment have decided to freezepay etc
xx

 

[aliss]

Okay, I'm not from the UK but I am a public sector worker. I work as a dispatcher in a police department - so I am not allowed to go on strike and I can be forced to work during something like an earthquake, etc.

Some jobs in the public sector are just not equal. For example, I get paid the same as the JANITOR yet I am responsible for dealing with bank robberies, gun calls, talking to suicidal people, etc. If I could strike based on that, I would, LOL. Why should the janitor get paid the same as someone whose screwup can easily kill someone? No offense to the janitor

I don't complain about my wage, it's pretty darn good @ about $28/hr Canadian which is about 17 British pounds. However, I don't think that's an unreasonable amount at all and with more and more experience, I think I should at least get a bit of a raise, no??
JMO.

 

[NandO1]

How does mr cameron think that job losses are going to improve the economy? There are 50 to 60 if not more applicants for every post how is the job market going to cope with more people going for the jobs. The economy cant improve when there are more people out of work and not spending, and i feel that alot of these cuts are the precursor to privatisation which would be absolutely detrimental to this country. So if striking is what they have to do then thats what they have to do.

 

[PeanutBean]

Well it's a tricky one and I'm not sure what I think. I totally support the right to strike and support the reasoning behind it - the government is dismantling the state and it is not going to be good for anyone. Except the richies...

But strike action these days really dies not get the public's support and without the public's having it is self-defeating. So I'm not sure what is the best thing to do, though I think we should certainly all be taking to the streets!

I get cross about the comparisons with the different sectors. I've worked in private, public and now the voluntary sector. We had no pay rises this year either because we have to be sensitive about our government funding and follow the public sector. My husband works in libraries and gets paid jack though he deals with drug addicts, teenagers committing suicide, cleaning up shit (literally) after some of the weirdos who frequent the library. He works long hard hours. The job I did was low pay and I had nothing to do! It wasn't a good example! The reality is that you get dossers and hard workers in every line of work and they will be that way whoever pays their wages. Not all private sector work is the same either. Also, the public sector actually employs some of the lowest earners in the country not to mention many women. Public sector cuts affect the poor and women very disproportionately both as workers and as service users. I fully support every fight to change that.

 

[aliss]

I get cross about the comparisons with the different sectors. I've worked in private, public and now the voluntary sector. We had no pay rises this year either because we have to be sensitive about our government funding and follow the public sector. My husband works in libraries and gets paid jack though he deals with drug addicts, teenagers committing suicide, cleaning up shit (literally) after some of the weirdos who frequent the library.

That's too bad. Here in Canada, library workers (not just actual librarians) do make pretty good money (about the same as I do). I took a couple of library science courses in university, it's a lot more difficult than people think!

 

[polo_princess]

Tbh im not really a fan of striking, be grateful you have a job at all, especially in the current climate. If you dont want yours, im sure someone else would happily take your place for the same money that you are earning now.

I just dont see the point in it im afraid

 

[bluebaby]

It makes me mad when I hear public sector workers moaning. I work in the private sector and haven't had a pay rise in 5 years. It seems crazy to give people pay rises and perks, not to mention the all too common culture of doing the bare minimum, which I'm sure exists in the private sector as well (although I've never seen it there). Why should people expect special treatment because their wages are paid from our taxes? They should be grateful to have a job at all in these difficult times.

I have family working in the public sector, and they work very hard, but they agree that the way the council runs things are riduclous. In some areas they can't actually afford any staff anymore - each time someone leaves they just get extra agency staff because it works out cheaper than all the overtime and perks they'd have to fork out for with someone permanent.

Firstly, just because you work in the public sector doesn't mean you get a pay rise every year or that you are well paid. I haven't had a pay rise in years and the last pay rise i did get was about £300 for that year which is not a lot. I have a good job and i am certainly not well paid, in fact if i did the same job for the private sector i would earn a hell of alot more money. I do admit with the public sector i do get the perk like flexitime but its the only perk. I do a load of hours unpaid. Secondly I don't know any public sector worker who does 'the bare minimum'. You are there to serve the public and do so with alot of hard work. We don't expect special treatment because the government pays our wages it doesn't cross our minds. In the private sector do you feel like you should have special treatment because the public pay your wage by buying your product or using your service and keeping your company in business???

Just because you work for the public sector doesn't mean you don't work hard or work any less than the private sector

 

[emilyjade]

my dad is a special needs teacher and his job is in the balance at the moment.

 

[upsybetsy]

I think they are wrong and I think it is quite correct that they should have pay freezes. I would go one step further and issue several hefty pay cuts into the bargain.

Nobody gives a hoot when private sector jobs are made redundant and private workers have to take pay cuts on the chin with no unions to turn to.

If I was in power I'd change the law to make it possible for strikers to be sacked.

I have mostly worked in the private sector (full time mum now), but did work in the public sector for 2 years in the late 1990s and the culture was shocking - sickies left, right and centre, "flexi" time appearing from nowhere etc etc. My sister has one of those silly quango jobs which are totally unnecessary and she is the first to admit she gets paid for nothing. AND thousands of them get paid more than the prime minister.

All this "serving the public" patter may be correct for a small minority of dedicate but in the real world and in my experience, people in the public sector get away with doing as little as possible for their pay packets. It is them that give the rest of their colleagues a very bad name and it is why most of the country (i.e. private sector) aren't sympathetic to their plight.