national strike

[jackanada]

Not mine but if you want an opinion from the left here's a good one lifted from the similar argument raging on my facebook page.

Your 'lucky to have a job' argument gets rolled out every time there is any industrial dispute. The point of striking is to protest collectively against policies and laws that are detrimental to ones class interests. The reason why we do not have child labour in this country is due to exactly this type of collectivized action in the 19th century by workers collectives not capitalist benevolence. This strike isn't just about the pension theft it is about a fundamental principle of democracy. The government clearly and unashamedly serves the interests of the 'markets' and not the people.' We are constantly being told that the markets are a open and ideological neutral but when you hear the word 'markets' we should think of extremely powerful elite of very right wing ideologues who will happily and joyously enslave you, your children and your children's children into new forms of bonded labour and penury.

 

[gjh1971]

This would not be happening if Margaret Thatcher was still alive and running the country.

But it did

Biggest school strikes since 1980s as doubts grow on pension reform | Society | The Guardian

 

[Herr Tubthumper]

So you wouldn't call 12 weeks off a year, a "perk"?

I work in the private sector and I took 9 weeks holiday last year, 5 the year before and 12 the previous.

 

[narly101]

So when do you think I do all my planning and preparation. Most of my holiday is spent preparing lessons, marking, writing schemes of work etc

In your non-contact time which is provided as part of your job. My wife is a teacher and has been for over 10 years. She is also a member of the Senior Management of her school, a member of the board of governors, a senior member of the PTA, and Senior Maths Co-ordinator for the Borough of Merton. She is not out on strike today as she doesn't want her school to close, and she doesn't support the strike either. She also does not spend "all her holiday" planning, preparing or marking work. May I suggest you plan your life slightly better, than relying on your holiday to do your job.

 

[34064 Fighter Command]

It costs private nurseries more than the government pay them to provide those free places as it happens.

It also costs private schools more to educate kids than it does in the state sector, but that doesn't make a case for abolishing taxes and state education.

 

[jackanada]

The net cost to the taxpayer of public sector pensions for the next seven years is as follows according to the OBR:

5.6bn
8.4bn
9.9bn
10.5bn
11.6bn
12.5bn
13.5bn

Can anyone spot a trend here that may need addressing?

Fortunately we're dismantling the NHS and the cost of heating and food keeps going up so the ageing population this is based on won't happen. Even without that todays kids won't live as long as us because most of them eat crap and do no exercise.

 

[jackanada]

In your non-contact time which is provided as part of your job. My wife is a teacher and has been for over 10 years. She is also a member of the Senior Management of her school, a member of the board of governors, a senior member of the PTA, and Senior Maths Co-ordinator for the Borough of Merton. She is not out on strike today as she doesn't want her school to close, and she doesn't support the strike either. She also does not spend "all her holiday" planning, preparing or marking work. May I suggest you plan your life slightly better, than relying on your holiday to do your job.

Like all jobs the higher you rise the less you actually do.

 

[Herr Tubthumper]

In your non-contact time which is provided as part of your job. My wife is a teacher and has been for over 10 years. She is also a member of the Senior Management of her school, a member of the board of governors, a senior member of the PTA, and Senior Maths Co-ordinator for the Borough of Merton. She is not out on strike today as she doesn't want her school to close, and she doesn't support the strike either. She also does not spend "all her holiday" planning, preparing or marking work. May I suggest you plan your life slightly better, than relying on your holiday to do your job.

So your wife is a paper-pusher. I have no doubt she has more free time. At the coal face it's a bit different.

 

[narly101]

Like all jobs the higher you rise the less you actually do.

Deluded and misguided. Bless.

 

[Herr Tubthumper]

Are post offices affected by the strike? I need to post a letter.

 

[Westdene Seagull]

It also costs private schools more to educate kids than it does in the state sector, but that doesn't make a case for abolishing taxes and state education.

But your suggestion was that private nurseries needed the children who used the free place scheme - they don't, they are actually worse off because of the scheme. In affect the people paying the full fees are subsidising the people using the free places.

The government don't force private schools to give free places.

 

[narly101]

So your wife is a paper-pusher. I have no doubt she has more free time. At the coal face it's a bit different.

Further from the truth actually. She also has to teach her own class of 8-9 year olds, as well as provide the maths co-ordination for her school and the borough. Pretty much doubles her work load. So when I hear teachers moaning about their life, I don't have any sympathy whatsoever. She plans her life brilliantly to ensure she has enough time for her and the family, and she most definitely doesn't use all her holiday for planning.

 

[Common as Mook]

Im not saying perks do worry me, Im just making the point that other professions have perks my job doesnt.

Yep, and your job has perks that my job in the private sector doesn't.

 

[Herr Tubthumper]

Further from the truth actually. She also has to teach her own class of 8-9 year olds, as well as provide the maths co-ordination for her school and the borough. Pretty much doubles her work load. So when I hear teachers moaning about their life, I don't have any sympathy whatsoever. She plans her life brilliantly to ensure she has enough time for her and the family, and she most definitely doesn't use all her holiday for planning.

Really? I thought the higher up the chain you go the less teaching you actually do. In fact this was said on Educating Essex so it must be true.

 

[paddy]

It also costs private schools more to educate kids than it does in the state sector, but that doesn't make a case for abolishing taxes and state education.

Yet another example of the ridiculous hyperbole people resort to in defending the status quo. Absolutely no-one is suggesting we should abolish taxes, state education or the public sector.

The point is simply this: we are all living longer and this, coupled with the awful state of the public finances, means that public sector pensions burden is becoming unaffordable. A related and important point is the fact that to sustain the current pensions settlement you have hard-pressed people in the private sector doing substantially similar jobs to those in the private sector, working just as hard, but also creating wealth, who earn much less and do not have a comparable pension paying very high taxes. This is also a fact.

These two facts mean that it is right and proper public sector workers make an increased contribution to their pensions. To reiterate, this does not mean we do not immensely value the work that those in the public sector do, or that we want to abolish the public sector.

 

[User removed 4]

I work in the private sector and I took 9 weeks holiday last year, 5 the year before and 12 the previous.

Deliberately misleading, you are self-employed.

 

[Herr Tubthumper]

Yet another example of the ridiculous hyperbole people resort to in defending the status quo. Absolutely no-one is suggesting we should abolish taxes, state education or the public sector.

The point is simply this: we are all living longer and this, coupled with the awful state of the public finances, means that public sector pensions burden is becoming unaffordable. A related and important point is the fact that to sustain the current pensions settlement you have hard-pressed people in the private sector doing substantially similar jobs to those in the private sector, working just as hard, but also creating wealth, who earn much less and do not have a comparable pension paying very high taxes. This is also a fact.

These two facts mean that it is right and proper public sector workers make an increased contribution to their pensions. To reiterate, this does not mean we do not immensely value the work that those in the public sector do, or that we want to abolish the public sector.

Comparable jobs? This is an opinion not a fact.

 

[narly101]

Really? I thought the higher up the chain you go the less teaching you actually do. In fact this was said on Educating Essex so it must be true.

lol

 

[sten_super]

So when I hear teachers moaning about their life, I don't have any sympathy whatsoever. She plans her life brilliantly to ensure she has enough time for her and the family, and she most definitely doesn't use all her holiday for planning.

I have a lot of sympathy for this view - but it's clear that a lot of the variation between teachers is not through choice but through some combination of inherent ability to be organised (or otherwise) and experience. My wife is a head of department in a secondary school, but spends a lot less time planning now than she did when she was was an NQT or in the few couple of years of teaching, despite teaching practically the same number of lessons that she ever did and having many other responsibilities taking up her time at school. She certainly spends no more than one day of any given holiday preparing to return to work. However, several of her friends seem to spend untold hours every evening and weekend (and by the sounds of it practically all of their holidays) doing work for school, despite being of a similar age/experience level and having no more than her to do.

 

[gjh1971]

Are post offices affected by the strike? I need to post a letter.

The postie has just delivered some parcels to me, so i presume the Post Offices are open.