News Public sector strikes inc?

[cHodAX]

Certainly looks that way.

BBC News - Union warns of mass public sector strikes

Can't say I blame the government completely, those pensions needed to be drastically reduced, certainly at the top end. The whole 'talks but we won't compromise' line from them is suprising though, surely there is a middleground to be had that saves the taxpayer billions and doesn't rape those pensions in the process?

 

[Tom]

It took the DVLA over 2 months to send me a V5C for my new car.

Apart from the emergency services, the public sector is useless. Let them strike, it isn't as though anyone will notice.

 

[Billargh]

I got my V5C in just over a week of getting my new car, just sayin'.

 

[Wij]

They just want to make sure a Tory government can't function and hope we'll vote Labour next time.

 

[cHodAX]

All that organised striking in unison will do is piss off the public, the polititians and force through even more draconian union reforms. If they want to strike they need to reserve it for the most severe reasons and I don't see this as one of them, they are being offered pensions that are still far better than the average private sector pension. Cutting public services and masses of jobs, I could support them striking over that but protecting golden handshake pensions? No fucking chance.

 

[Raven]

Everything of any importance (not including the emergency services) is outsourced anyway. Can't say I will notice that some chair filler decides to take the day off "work"

They are usually off with pretend stress or some other shit anyway.

 

[Embattle]

While the Hutton report stated they aren't gold plated he did state that they needed to change so they are still affordable in the future, in essence what the government is trying to do is what was stated in the report.

I personally don't see much public support for them, it would be bad enough in a better economic environment let alone the current one.

 

[Chilly]

fuck em. who needs civil servants anyway? private sector all the way.

 

[ECA]

This is the same bunch of ***** that thought voting for ed miliband was a good idea.

 

[Moriath]

bastard dont realise how lucky they are .. all the private sector pensions been sold down the swanny a long itme ago .. lost my final salary scheme 5 years or more ago

Should wake up and smell the coffee tbh ... they getting the same treatment as private sector company employees mostly with no pay rises and shit pensions so suck it up and get on with it like we have to ..

no sympathy here cause we had no choice but to accept it .. tbh striking is crap you lose more than you gain most of the time hehe

 

[Raven]

They should fire the lot of them and give the jobs to people who want them.

 

[Himse]

Fuck Unions.

Bunch of time wasting good for nothing ass bloody tits weiners! yeah!

They do annoy me alot though, they get such good money for their jobs and still complain about every minor detail.

Its so far, taken them 2 weeks already to do my passport, they even sent me my old one back with a clipping off it saying:

'Your application is being processed!' Oh yay, it takes so long for them to put my old details in a new passport with a new photo.

Also, when i called up asking for some business rates for a property (to my local council) I was passed around to three different numbnuts who had NO idea who dealt with business rates. Finally got through to one guy who was just like 'oh ring up letting agent and find out' fucking lazy bastards!

 

[Helme]

I'm still finding it hard to believe people are defending the private sector in this thread while at the same time bashing the public for having it better, surely a better solution would be to make the private sector step in line? It's not like they're lacking money at the moment.

 

[throdgrain]

I'm still finding it hard to believe people are defending the private sector in this thread while at the same time bashing the public for having it better, surely a better solution would be to make the private sector step in line? It's not like they're lacking money at the moment.

I dont even know where to start in answering this

 

[Raven]

I'm still finding it hard to believe people are defending the private sector in this thread while at the same time bashing the public for having it better, surely a better solution would be to make the private sector step in line? It's not like they're lacking money at the moment.

What? Do you even live in the real world?

Money is tight for a lot of private companies. Not all private companies are banks you know...

 

[Embattle]

I dont even know where to start in answering this

A union reply, at least it is one I've heard a lot from them.

 

[Raven]

The thing is, the public sector have got so used to having money thrown at them when they fail that they just can't understand it.

In the private sector, if you fail you go bust and you lose jobs, in the public sector they just throw money at it until it does better. It is Labour's fault that the public sector is a creaking bloated mess.

 

[Helme]

A union reply, at least it is one I've heard a lot from them.

I'm just trying to point out the odd thinking, that the lack of pensions in the private sector isn't the issue, but that the public has them is. It should be the other way around. Everyone should have a right to a good pension if they do the work, is there bloat in the public sector that can be gotten rid off? Yes, clearly - is it as bad as the media wants us to believe? No. The NHS is the most efficient healthcare system in the developed world for example, something you wouldn't believe just listening to the media.

This isn't even mentioning that some sectors could do with more 'bloat' so to say, did you know that you spend 1/3 of the money chasing down tax evasions as you do benefit fraud? Despite the fact that you lose 15 times more with the tax evasion?


As for corporate profits;
U.S. Corporate Profits Hit Record in Third Quarter - NYTimes.com

Looking at that number I'd say they're doing fairly well, then how come we're not actually seeing increased hiring and better benefits and so on? Because the corporations have realised they can still earn the same money paying less and working their reduced workforce harder because they fear being laid off otherwise. I guess it doesn't help that actual private spending(as in, you buying a PS3 or whatever) is down on account of 5% or so higher unemployment so investments aren't as attractive as they used to be, but still corporations are far from hurting.

I don't see a real solution to this problem, other than you know, forcing corporations to invest but that never tends to work. The funny thing here really is that if they continue to erode public and private wages/benefits alike their profits will shrink in the future because who is going to pay for their products?

 

[Tom]

I'm still finding it hard to believe people are defending the private sector in this thread while at the same time bashing the public for having it better, surely a better solution would be to make the private sector step in line? It's not like they're lacking money at the moment.

Who do you think pays for the public sector? The budget fairy?

 

[Helme]

No, the budget fairy pays for banking bailouts.

The public pays for the public sector, and by public in this case I mean actual people.

 

[Raven]

You do understand that the banks generate huge amounts of income for the government through taxes and employ huge amounts of people, right?

What do you think would have happened if the banks were allowed to go bust?

 

[Helme]

I didn't say they should have gone bust, I said that the budget fairy came in and spent extreme amounts of money on it.

The issue I have with the bailout is mostly that the budget hole caused by it is being used to push bigger and bigger cuts, and blaming it on public excesses rather than you know - irresponsible bankers. I'd like to see just one of the fuckers go to jail, just one because what they did was clearly criminal. Instead we're going after pensions, raising tuition(which in the long run will cause more debt...) and so on.

Funnily enough you could bring in that argument about how the private sector has to be profitable to succeed, guess it doesn't apply to banks though

 

[Raven]

I agree that they should be punished. However there is a hell of a lot of wastage in the public sector. Which can be dealt with now.

 

[Bugz]

Please don't derail this into a 'bankers are bad' thread.

Deregulation, housing bubble, currency crisis models etc etc etc. Not just bankers are bad.

 

[Helme]

Obviously it's more to it than that, but my point is that we're blaming the public for what was clearly systematic abuse by financial institutions - mostly investment banks, this while also forcing us to pay to keep them in business.

 

[Bugz]

Which is why you regulate the financial institutions. They are a private sector at heart, so they will push for profit maximisation, even at social expense but to remove them from the economy is to remove the economy from the economy.

Yet we have the GLB Act in the U.S and G. Brown admitting he failed in terms of bank regulation as Chancellor.

Would it be a firm's fault if they developed a super-monopoly in the UK & fucked everyone over because the CC did not regulate/invesigate enough? Economically no, ethnically debateable.

 

[Helme]

At this point regulators and the private sector are basically the same, it's not as obvious here but in the US it's a revolving door.

 

[Raven]

Anyway. As usual the Daily Mash gets it spot on.

The Daily Mash - Council offices to grind to whatever is slower than a halt

 

[cHodAX]

Some interesting stuff on the pensions here...

BBC News - Danny Alexander denies public sector pension 'assault'

Got to feel a bit sorry for the government, these pensions obviously need lowering dramatically as the drain on public finances is immense but I have a nasty feeling this is going to be the excuse the unions have been looking for to go to war. Greedy fuckers. They get so much more than private sector workers in regards to benefits, well above the national average but rather than accept cuts they are actually think they are hard done by.

 

[Embattle]

What I find funny is they accuse him of an attack on negations yet they voted for a strike before even negations had started.