PUBLIC SECTOR STRIKE 30th NOVEMBER

[LooPrEvil]

Will it really have much impact on the rest of us?

I doubt it, unless you are leaving the country or your kids school is closed.

It will actually save millions in wages not paid by the government, which will help reduce the countrys deficit.

Who will miss those back office town hall staff etc? NOT ME!

 

[cantaloup63]

Somewhere along the line it would be helpful if we could delineate between useful public employees and unessential jobsworths.

 

[spacecat]

Somewhere along the line it would be helpful if we could delineate between useful public employees and unessential jobsworths.

you can apply that logic to very avenue of work

good honest reliable..builders, plumbers, sparks and chippies and dodgy, rip off merchant, cowboys

etc etc

 

[LooPrEvil]

Somewhere along the line it would be helpful if we could delineate between useful public employees and unessential jobsworths.

and also excessively over staffed departments.

 

[joe-90]

Are public sector pensions too high? One side says yes and the other no - so what's the truth?

 

[Brigadier]

Are public sector pensions too high? One side says yes and the other no - so what's the truth?

Guy texted radio 5 the other day. He's private sector, his wife public. Both started in their jobs in 1992. Both pay basically the same into their pensions.

He reckons he will retire on £2100 pa. His wife will retire on £2300 per month

I have a private pension - the basic premise (I thought) was that, at age 65 (although that's probably going up due to living longer) you had to have about £20k in your pot to "buy" £1K pa retirement income. So if you wanted £20K pa, you'd need about £400K.

How you make up that £400K is up to you - most people pay in less than the £400K in total, but hope that (the stock market?) causes their payments to grow over a long period of time - that £5 you paid in in 1978 will have hopefully been growing for decades, by the time that you pack in. You might get lucky and have a half-mill pile left to you

 

[LooPrEvil]

Are public sector pensions too high? One side says yes and the other no - so what's the truth?

I suppose what you pay in determines what you get out of the scheme.

Some public sector pension schemes are actually self financing and do not get assistance from the state purse, so why should the government want to change that?

 

[enyam]

I have a private pension - the basic premise (I thought) was that, at age 65 (although that's probably going up due to living longer) you had to have about £20k in your pot to "buy" £1K pa retirement income. So if you wanted £20K pa, you'd need about £400K.

How you make up that £400K is up to you - most people pay in less than the £400K in total, but hope that (the stock market?) causes their payments to grow over a long period of time - that £5 you paid in in 1978 will have hopefully been growing for decades, by the time that you pack in. You might get lucky and have a half-mill pile left to you

That will be alright if annuity rates are at 5% they are below that now with interest rates so low.I have a company pension in a money purchase scheme where by you buy that annuity when you retire,its linked to the stock market,back in 2008 it crashed 30% it recovered that 30% but as now just lost 20% again due to the stock markets take on Europe,no public sector worker is exposed to these types of fluctuations.They think there is a justification! my arse.

 

[spacecat]

comes down to that sane old argument for me , who created the mess pays for it.

Banks and the mega rich corps that make their money off ordinary people and then hide billions of pounds of taxes away from the country.

Most public sector workers are very hard working often on low pay doing the jobs that many people wouldnt or couldnt do in a million years, now the govt george and friends who are basically bankers themselves want to screw them for years of service

 

[Bodgeitandleggit]

Funny how con dems are saying it will cost billions of pounds to the economy but its ok to give the whole country a day off for a royal wedding with a smile...a royal wedding nobody is arsed about

 

[cantaloup63]

The opposition's silence on the matter is deafening. To me, it's an admission of guilt and that they either completely miscalculated the cost of it all whilst they were in office, or were too scared to do what seems to be necessary.

 

[Norcon]

The opposition's silence on the matter is deafening.

Given Labour is bankrolled almost entirely by the unions this is hardly a surprise.

 

[cantaloup63]

The opposition's silence on the matter is deafening.

Given Labour is bankrolled almost entirely by the unions this is hardly a surprise.

But that's the point - they aren't backing up the unions on this issue.

 

[^woody^]

Most public sector workers are very hard working often on low pay doing the jobs that many people wouldnt or couldnt do in a million years,

Yes there are.

However, the maintenance operatives at my local are on £28-£33k for basic landlord repairs on a 37 hour week. Those on call outs at night might clear another £10-£15k

How much is a private sector maintenance man on for 4-5 jobs a day?

Office clerical staff (basic non specialist) are on a bit more than equivalent private sector staff.

Then you have all the holidays and flexi-time - in total 50 days a year for a trade operative

 

[Biker1959]

Are public sector pensions too high? One side says yes and the other no - so what's the truth?

the truth is hidden behind the spin & propaganda. The average public sector pension is £5600 a year- the average private sector pension from an occupational pension scheme is £5860. If private sector workers have the option of a works pension scheme and join it for 40 years they will get just as much of a Pension as a public sector worker. HOWEVER many employers have withdrawn company pension schemes or workers have opted out- if you don't pay in you get nothing out. The reason why some unions have balloted for strike action for the first time in over 100 years is the fact that extra pension deductions being imposed by the government go straight to the treasury, not to pension funds. So it is not that the Pensions are too high, it is the bill for the Bankers mess that is too high.