I do not support the teachers striking and never will. It's an utter disgrace.

There is only one disgrace here and that's how somebody who has sponged off the state for years has the absolute gall for criticizing a group of professionals standing up for what was promised when they started the job.

I do not like striking and really do think it's a last resort but I will be joining next Weds.

Am I right in thinking that MPs pensions are paid out on what their end salary is?

 

This is what has just been removed from public sector workers and replaced with an average over the working life.

 

Hypocritical scumbags!

Am I right in thinking that MPs pensions are paid out on what their end salary is?

 

This is what has just been removed from public sector workers and replaced with an average over the working life.

 

Hypocritical scumbags!

 

Read the two articles I posted on the previous page....

 

The likes of Francis Maude, Danny "ginger rodent" Alexander and Eric "fatty" Pickles are being paid veritable Kings' ransoms in terms of pensions.... Hypocritical scumbags indeed... -_-

 

Am I right in thinking that MPs pensions are paid out on what their end salary is?

 

This is what has just been removed from public sector workers and replaced with an average over the working life.

 

Hypocritical scumbags!

It is based on final salary but, for MPs who never become ministers, a move to average salary would make little difference.

It is based on final salary but, for MPs who never become ministers, a move to average salary would make little difference.

But as being public servants, shouldn't they at least be on the same scale as the thing they are forcing other public servants to accept, just as a matter of principle.

 

 

But as being public servants, shouldn't they at least be on the same scale as the thing they are forcing other public servants to accept, just as a matter of principle.

 

Agreed 100%

 

But as being public servants, shouldn't they at least be on the same scale as the thing they are forcing other public servants to accept, just as a matter of principle.

There's no doubt that it would be the right thing to do politically. Of course, if they did, many people would just scoff that they can afford it but that's politics.

http://i.imgur.com/b0TwM.png

 

This is only slightly related, but oof.

Oh, it's definitely related. It shows how the trend towards a narrowing gap between the wealthiest 1% and the rest of us started to change as soon as the mad old bat (Th****er) came to power and that Labour did sod all to reverse that trend in their 13 years in power.

 

http://i.imgur.com/b0TwM.png

 

This is only slightly related, but oof.

 

Indeed... Proves the point that I've made all along, workers need to be unionised and organised....

My lecturer has had a bit of a CONSCIENCE develop over this strike action so I'll be spending Wednesday at the MARX MEMORIAL LIBRARY.

 

Good times for one and all no?!

I had to laugh at Carole Malone on This Morning castigating the strikers with the lame defence that " David Cameron has stressed that times will be hard for everyone and we are all in the same boat, private sector workers and public sector workers". She is a rancid cow who has forgotten that she is not part of the ruling class. Why should the rest of us suffer for the fact that it is the banks, financial institutions and the governments unwillingness to make them pay their fair share that has got the country into this mess. Yet cuts in pensions, social services and benefits happens for the rest of us while City fat cats and board member continue to reap millions in pensions and bonuses.

I had to laugh at Carole Malone on This Morning castigating the strikers with the lame defence that " David Cameron has stressed that times will be hard for everyone and we are all in the same boat, private sector workers and public sector workers". She is a rancid cow who has forgotten that she is not part of the ruling class. Why should the rest of us suffer for the fact that it is the banks, financial institutions and the governments unwillingness to make them pay their fair share that has got the country into this mess. Yet cuts in pensions, social services and benefits happens for the rest of us while City fat cats and board member continue to reap millions in pensions and bonuses.

 

Just a slight re-arranging of "we're all in this together"... And that was a load of bollocks too

 

The Tories and the Right Wing press have done their damnedest to paint this day of action and the unions in as negative a light as possible, but the fact of the matter is the Tories lied through their teeth about the supposed "negotiations" anyway, as Danny the Ginger Rodent had already actually announced what the policy was going to be REGARDLESS of what actual negotiations are going on.. How on earth can you negotiate on those sorts of terms..? Nothing had been agreed, and there's Alexander making announcements in the press... Another fact the right wing press seems to blithely ignore is that pensions had already been re-negotiated in 2007, and people had agreed to make larger contributions already, and yet another fact is that these particular increases to contributions wont actually be going into pension funds.. They'll more than likely be used to fund tax breaks for millionaires who currently pay the 50% rate... So, sorry, but F/UCK YOU TORY SCUM.....

 

And Osborne's "Autumn Statement" is another kick in the teeth for public sector workers....

 

George Osborne: Public sector pay rises capped at 1%

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-15931086

 

Chancellor George Osborne has announced public sector pay rises are to be capped at 1% for two years, in his update on the state of the economy.

 

The number of public sector jobs set to be lost by 2017 has also been revised up from 400,000 to 710,000.

 

He said economic growth will be lower, and borrowing and unemployment higher, than forecast in his Budget in March.

For Labour, Ed Balls said the figures showed the chancellor's economic and fiscal plans were "in tatters".

 

Outlining his plans to MPs, based on economic forecasts from the independent Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR), Mr Osborne told MPs the UK economy was now forecast to grow by 0.9% this year - compared with 1.7% forecast in March and 0.7% next year, down from the 2.5% forecast in March.

 

He said the forecast from the OBR were down to the eurozone crisis, a hike in global commodity prices and a new assessment that the UK's economic boom was bigger and the bust deeper than previously believed.

 

Borrowing was falling and debt would come down but "not as quickly as we wished". In 2011-12 it is now forecast at £127bn - up from £122bn forecast in the Budget and overall, over five years, is expecting to borrow £111bn more

 

But he said, because debt interest payments had dropped, the government would be spending £22bn less over this Parliament on them than predicted.

 

The OBR forecast that unemployment would rise from 8.1% this year, to 8.7% next year - before falling to 6.2% by 2016. Its earlier prediction that a squeeze on the public sector would mean 400,000 job losses over five years has been nearly doubled, to 710,000 - due to extra spending cuts pencilled in after 2015.

 

The chancellor conceded he would not now be able to eliminate the structural deficit and see national debt falling by 2014/15 as predicted. The structural deficit is now predicted to be eliminated by 2015-16, pushing it beyond the next general election.

 

While the independent Office for Budget Responsibility had not forecast a double dip recession - as the economic think tank the OECD did on Monday - the chancellor warned that if the rest of Europe went into recession, "it may prove hard to avoid one here".

 

But he said the government would meet its budget rules and would "see Britain through this debt storm".

State pension age

 

Among money-saving measures outlined by the chancellor were a 1% cap on public sector pay for two years, once the current two-year pay freeze ends from 2013 - saying the government "cannot afford the 2% rise assumed by some government departments thereafter". That would save more than £1bn by 2014-15, he said.

 

Plans to raise the state pension age from 66 to 67 would be brought forward by up to ten years to 2026, to save £59bn in the long term.

 

The child element of the working tax credit will be uprated in line with inflation, but other tax credit increases will be restricted.

 

But in April there will be a £5.30 increase in the basic state pension to £107.45, in line with the 5.2% inflation rise in September.

 

Pensioners receiving pension credit will also benefit from an increase worth £5.35 and "working age" benefits would also go up in line with the higher inflation figure - contrary to earlier reports - which he said would be a "significant boost to the incomes of the poorest".

 

Other announcements included an increase in the bank levy to 0.088% from 1 January and a 50% discount for social housing tenants who want to buy their own home - the proceeds of which would go towards building new affordable homes.

 

Mr Osborne also went through a series of schemes aimed at boosting the UK's flagging economy.

 

These include a £20bn national loan guarantee scheme for small businesses, a £40bn "credit easing" scheme to underwrite bank loans to small businesses, plans for £5bn spending on big infrastructure projects over three years - with 35 road and rail schemes identified, £400m fund to kick start housing projects, a £1bn regional growth fund for England, £250m help for energy intensive industries to alleviate cost of EU carbon trading, reduced corporate tax rate and an extended business rate holiday for small businesses and an extra £1.2bn for schools.

 

Rail fares, and fares for the Tube and London buses, will be capped at inflation plus 1% while the fuel duty rise for January has been axed and a planned 5p rise in August limited to 3p. Free nursery care targeted at two-year-olds from poorer families will be extended to 260,000 toddlers and Mr Osborne confirmed a £940m scheme to target youth unemployment by subsidising work placements in the private sector.

 

Ed Balls said the chancellor's economic and fiscal strategy ''is in tatters''

 

Overseas aid will be adjusted as it is currently on track to surpass the government's commitment to raise it to 0.7% of GDP, which Mr Osborne said could not be justified in the current circumstances.

 

But for Labour, shadow chancellor Ed Balls said the figures showed the "truly colossal failure of the chancellor's plan".

 

"Let's be clear what the OBR has told us today: Growth flatlining, down this year, next year and the year after. Unemployment rising, well over £100bn more borrowing than the chancellor planned a year ago - more borrowing that the plan which the chancellor inherited at the last general election.

 

"As a result his economic and fiscal strategy is in tatters."

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 

So, public sector wage "increases" capped at 1%... Taken in tandem with the 3% rise in "pensions contributions", that is basically an effective pay CUT of 2%, and this is without adding in the effects of VAT rises.... In real terms, Public Sector workers are getting absolutely f/ucking SHAFTED.... And, tell me again, who was it that caused the financial crisis....?? <_< <_< <_<

"Chancellor George Osborne has announced public sector pay rises are to be capped at 1% for two years, in his update on the state of the economy.

The number of public sector jobs set to be lost by 2017 has also been revised up from 400,000 to 710,000"

 

This just says it all that when the Tories need to make cuts or go after anyones money it is never the rich or the City. There is nothing left to be squeezed from public sector workers but Osbourne is still trying. Why has Nick Clegg been so quiet, we have not heard a peep out of him and his turn coat lapdogs in the Coalition.

 

Len Mcluskey in The Guardian hits the nail on the head.

"Wednesday's public sector pensions strike is more than industrial action; it is a national day of rebuke. The dispute represents many things beyond its central purpose of making ministers think again about trying to make public servants pay more, work longer, and receive less. It represents a rebuke to an elite, represented by the Conservative-dominated coalition, which has treated the banks and hedge funds in precisely the opposite way, giving them more to deliver less in lending and investment.It also represents a resurgence of the trade union movement after a long decline for which society has paid a price. As unions have declined we have seen a rise in both inequality and the powerlessness of the poorer"

 

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/20...rt-rebuke-elite

"Chancellor George Osborne has announced public sector pay rises are to be capped at 1% for two years, in his update on the state of the economy.

The number of public sector jobs set to be lost by 2017 has also been revised up from 400,000 to 710,000"

 

This just says it all that when the Tories need to make cuts or go after anyones money it is never the rich or the City. There is nothing left to be squeezed from public sector workers but Osbourne is still trying. Why has Nick Clegg been so quiet, we have not heard a peep out of him and his turn coat lapdogs in the Coalition.

 

Len Mcluskey in The Guardian hits the nail on the head.

"Wednesday's public sector pensions strike is more than industrial action; it is a national day of rebuke. The dispute represents many things beyond its central purpose of making ministers think again about trying to make public servants pay more, work longer, and receive less. It represents a rebuke to an elite, represented by the Conservative-dominated coalition, which has treated the banks and hedge funds in precisely the opposite way, giving them more to deliver less in lending and investment.It also represents a resurgence of the trade union movement after a long decline for which society has paid a price. As unions have declined we have seen a rise in both inequality and the powerlessness of the poorer"

 

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/20...rt-rebuke-elite

 

Good article..... :)

 

I'd like to pose a question to those of you on here who support tomorrow's strike, especially Grimley. If workers are so upset about pension cuts and pay etc then why did only 1 in 3 Unison members bother to vote in the ballot? This was highlighted by a Minister I saw on the news today. As he said, fewer than a quarter of the membership voted in favour of striking. You'd think more would have voted wouldn't you.

I'm rather surprised he's increasing benefits by 5.2% next April and then in line with inflation yearly but yet pegging public service pay rises at 1% for two years. Don't think that will go down well with public service workers. The nasty Tories usually pick on benefit claimants first don't they? Very strange indeed.

Edited November 29, 201113 yr by Common Sense

The Problem in part is that the Government had made GREAT promises on the eliminating of the deficit by the time the next general election came along and the truth is also that they are now borrowing MORE than the last Labour goverment did. They have been blown off course by the events that they triggered and that they should have forseen. Poor unemployment figures, rising inflation, demonstrations and striking were ALL on the cards and I fail to see how they could not have forseen that.

 

This is in many ways a re-run of the early 1980s recession and battle between ideologies, the great difference, whether you agreed with her politics or not, is that the Thatcher was a ideologist, as Benn said "Her great strength was that she understood a certain way of life" and I don't believe that either Clegg (who seems to have gone to ground over the last 2 months) or Cameron seem to have no courage of their convinctions and U-turns are abounding quite publicly. All of which spells defeat for them come 2015, that will make little difference anyway as Labour are so helplessly flailing around for an alternative that they will be able to provide nothing new, but as this government has gone on I have become more and more disenchanted with their half hearted half conceived ideas. These strikes, which I don't doubt are cherished by some on both sides, are nothing more than the physical manifestations of the stand off between ideologies, I doubt either side will come out of them well, leadership is wanting though.

The Problem in part is that the Government had made GREAT promises on the eliminating of the deficit by the time the next general election came along and the truth is also that they are now borrowing MORE than the last Labour goverment did. They have been blown off course by the events that they triggered and that they should have forseen. Poor unemployment figures, rising inflation, demonstrations and striking were ALL on the cards and I fail to see how they could not have forseen that.

 

This is in many ways a re-run of the early 1980s recession and battle between ideologies, the great difference, whether you agreed with her politics or not, is that the Thatcher was a ideologist, as Benn said "Her great strength was that she understood a certain way of life" and I don't believe that either Clegg (who seems to have gone to ground over the last 2 months) or Cameron seem to have no courage of their convinctions and U-turns are abounding quite publicly. All of which spells defeat for them come 2015, that will make little difference anyway as Labour are so helplessly flailing around for an alternative that they will be able to provide nothing new, but as this government has gone on I have become more and more disenchanted with their half hearted half conceived ideas. These strikes, which I don't doubt are cherished by some on both sides, are nothing more than the physical manifestations of the stand off between ideologies, I doubt either side will come out of them well, leadership is wanting though.

 

I actually agree with a lot of what you say (although naturally I'm slightly more optimistic about the Labour leadership :P), all three parties are lacking that spark or influential figure who can be a real game changer and I think the whole political landscape is going to be quite scrappy until there's someone who's that bit different. Th*tcher may have been awful but she was something new and people responded accordingly. Blair wasn't as revolutionary policy-wise but the fact that we have three men in their early forties who are supposed to be "good on TV" leading our three major parties is his legacy. I don't know where the next game-changer is going to come from.

I'd like to pose a question to those of you on here who support tomorrow's strike, especially Grimley. If workers are so upset about pension cuts and pay etc then why did only 1 in 3 Unison members bother to vote in the ballot? This was highlighted by a Minister I saw on the news today. As he said, fewer than a quarter of the membership voted in favour of striking. You'd think more would have voted wouldn't you.

And I wonder what proportion of his electorate voted for that minister.