November 30 Strikes

[Joker]

Co-ordinated strike action is planned for November 30th in protest at the Government's planned changes to public sector Pensions. Apparently as many as 3 million workers could take strike action next Wednesday. What's your opinion on the strikes? Do you think they're justified?

[Syn]

It annoys me when people have a go at ‘public sector inefficiency’ and how lazy the workers are on the basis of articles - like the one Letters posted - about how they browse on betting sites (and GW!) etc.

As you’d expect with the numbers of people involved, there are lots of people who are lazy and eat cakes and get their news from Ananova and mod an Arsenal forum site - but the rest shouldn’t be tarred with the same brush. Also tube workers that do an easy job get paid far too much. But I saw many people that have been working at government departments for years who are very skilled at what they do and often do much more than they’re getting paid for - they could easily sell out to a consultancy and get paid double+ more but they don’t (I think most of these are women that tend to require that extra flexibility or people who value job security above all else).

I don’t know whether they’re justified. I think the system needs a change towards a more performance-related pay/pension scheme. But my opinion of many acts relying on public co-ordination (whether it’s strike action or booing at football matches) is always the same. Go big or go home.

[Niall_Quinn]

Strikes are a waste of time unless they are against the cancerous element that preys on the whole society. If people are only prepared to march up and down shouting then save your breath. You meet extremism with an extreme response or you get crushed.

[Letters]

Syn, do you work in the public sector?
I do, and have done a LOT of work with the public sector at my old job which was private sector.

As for the strikes...I don't know. I can see both sides. The new deal being proposed still seems pretty generous, more generous than a lot of private sector workers would get. And there's a massive deficit in the pension schemes which needs plugging somehow. That said, I can understand people who have been working in the public sector for years being miffed that the scheme they signed up to is suddenly being changed and the pension they were due to get isn't there any more.

[Niall_Quinn]

Syn, do you work in the public sector?
I do, and have done a LOT of work with the public sector at my old job which was private sector.

As for the strikes...I don't know. I can see both sides. The new deal being proposed still seems pretty generous, more generous than a lot of private sector workers would get. And there's a massive deficit in the pension schemes which needs plugging somehow. That said, I can understand people who have been working in the public sector for years being miffed that the scheme they signed up to is suddenly being changed and the pension they were due to get isn't there any more.

You see both sides? Are there 2 sides? We have one small group that has robbed the entire nation (the whole planet in fact) and then we have what? What's the other side?

[Cripps_orig]

You see both sides? Are there 2 sides? We have one small group that has robbed the entire nation (the whole planet in fact) and then we have what? What's the other side?

Good side of the force?

[Niall_Quinn]

Good side of the force?

I agree there's another side (as in particiapnt) in the war, but I mean what's the other argument, the one that would be in favour of the majority plodding on despite the fact they keep getting fucked up the arse?

[Xhaka Can’t]

What happened to Private Sector pensions is an absolute travesty that is going to have massive repercussions in the future. Now, the people who fucked over the private sector have decided the time is ripe to do the same to the public sector. And these cynical cunts engineering this are pitting plebs in both sectors against each other in a race to the bottom. Their argument centres around, 'look how much it sucks to be you, don't you think it should suck to be them as well'?

I hate my Union and the fucking Trotskyites that run it and have resigned from it in the past, but I'm in now, I fully support this strike, and for those who think this is just a bunch of Union layabouts looking for a day off and to stick two fingers up at the Government, consider this - at least two of the Unions going on strike have NEVER called a strike in their circa 100 year histories.

[Letters]

Isn't the basic problem that people are living longer and there's not enough money?

[Xhaka Can’t]

Isn't the basic problem that people are living longer and there's not enough money?

That is a factor. But changes in the public sector pensions were agreed and implemented circa 2007 and public sector pensions are becoming more affordable without further changes. Not that I'm averse to negotiation on existing schemes - but to say there has been negotiation of any substance would be wrong. In relation to the private sector, regulatory changes, a tax grab and underinvestment by employers taking 'holidays' when the stock market was rocketing led to massive underinvestment in pension schemes.

Strange though that none of this underinvestment has had any effect on the size of directors pension handouts or indeed the pensions of MPs.