tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4047451827781051010.post5333267161126276851..comments2023-04-09T13:38:29.293+01:00Comments on Is it Friday yet?: Strike It LuckyIs it Friday yet?http://www.blogger.com/profile/00742864821087454250noreply@blogger.comBlogger3125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4047451827781051010.post-83455704339977000512011-11-16T16:58:51.841+00:002011-11-16T16:58:51.841+00:00As a PRIVATE sector worker, I totally agree with t...As a PRIVATE sector worker, I totally agree with the strike action. It would take an essay to explain the ins and outs of why I believe this to be the case but in summary:<br /><br />It is not the public sector that needs to be streamlined to the point where it's balancing society on a knife edge, it is the private sector that needs to get it's house in order. Not just in this country but around the world. Sadly, it won't do that unless there is push back from the very thing that fuels it - the workforce and it's democratic representation - aka the government - so if the government is willing to rearrange itself to facilitate stupidity from the private sector then we're all screwed (and not just for pensions)... no matter what sector we work in. If industrial action is needed to remind the government of their real priorities then so be it.Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04667346027685084738noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4047451827781051010.post-79864620683790184322011-11-15T12:31:04.860+00:002011-11-15T12:31:04.860+00:00Lucky I didn't ask for your sympathy then isn&...Lucky I didn't ask for your sympathy then isn't it? :-)<br /><br />In all seriousness, it's easy for private sector workers to complain that their pension scheme is inferior to the public sector's, even the newly proposed version. And yes, there is no argument there. However a pension is only one aspect of the benefits of a job.<br /><br />Depending on the sort of work you do, you could be paid a lot more in the private sector for doing a similar job. As an example, there is a job currently listed on the Job Centre Online website that I have the qualifications and skills to apply for, which pays £7k a year more than I currently earn working at the civil service. However I'm not going to apply for it because the other benefits of working in the civil service (pensions, possibility of internal transfers for skills development, possibility for internal promotion, etc) outweigh the extra money in my eyes. However this is not the case for everyone.<br /><br />Aside from salary (which I realise isn't always as generous as in the public service), private sector workers often also have other benefits that many public servants do not, e.g. overtime, bonuses, commission, alternative working patterns, less stringent sickness policies, to name but a few. Plenty of private sector workers I know wouldn't dream of joining the civil service because they would have to give us their company-provided Blackberry and/or car and their annual bonus (often thousands of pounds).<br /><br />I've worked in both sectors and quite frankly I can see that there are currently benefits to both. However if you start pealing away the civil service benefits one layer at a time (which is, let's face it, probably the government's long-term goal), all you're left with is a dull 9-5 job with mediocre pay. Personally that's not what I'm after in life and so I'll take whatever steps I feel are appropriate to try and prevent that in whatever small way I can.<br /><br />If you feel differently and you think the deal that public sector workers get is so wonderful, there's nothing to stop you applying for a job on the next round of recruitment (now that the freeze has been lifted).<br /><br />The crux of the matter here is that you're more than welcome to disagree with me (and the thousands of other public sector workers across the UK) but I'm afraid that private sector workers crying "woe is me" doesn't particularly garner my sympathy and it isn't going to make me feel guilty about my decision.<br /><br />Also, in response to your questions:<br /><br />1. I'm not forgetting it, I'm simply counting it as a benefit to my contract of employment. I didn't make the rules, I just signed up to them. I used to be a private sector worker and didn't begrudge my tax going towards such things then. Quite frankly I have more of a problem with my tax going to benefit cheats and the like. You've got to pick your battles.<br /><br />2. "Still" may be the operative word in that sentence, but I won't even be able to think about retiring for the next 30+ years - who knows what the situation will be then. We have an ageing population and our economy isn't exactly the most stable thing in the world - seems to me like upping the retirement age further would be a logical step at some point down the line. Just (cynical) speculation.Is it Friday yet?https://www.blogger.com/profile/00742864821087454250noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4047451827781051010.post-30217156830853170462011-11-11T08:45:12.357+00:002011-11-11T08:45:12.357+00:00Appreciate your confession as a civil servant. How...Appreciate your confession as a civil servant. However, please don't confuse the ordinary state pension that everyone pays and receives as part of National Insurance, versus the proposed "careen average" final pension that public sector workers receive: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/personalfinance/pensions/8870505/The-real-truth-about-public-sector-pensions.html<br /><br />As a private sector worker, I have no sympathy with the planned strike action:<br /><br />1. While you may need to pay £50+ per month more, you are forgetting to mention that the Government (i.e. rest of us taxpayers) are matching your monthly payment with a c. 28% monthly contribution. I would LOVE my employer to make such a contribution. As it is, the max for me is a matching 10%. (Some public sector workers are daft enough to opt out of this scheme.)<br /><br />2. Isn't the public sector retirement age still 60? For the rest of us, it will by 66 soon, and planned to be 68 by the time I get there (and my family genetics aren't favourable!).<br /><br />So, yes, you'll need to cough up an extra £600 per year for an earlier pension that the rest of us will insure by paying higher taxes. Plus I would have to save an extra £500,000 for a similar pension payout (because Government is contributing so much more to your pot than my employer and I can do to mine).<br /><br />Sorry, no sympathy here at all whatsoever.Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17350706179528590465noreply@blogger.com