So is anyone here on strike?

[adrian29uk]

Exactly. They have nothing to moan about. It's parents who get the thin end of the wedge in respect of picking up the fall out of 'inset days' (why can't this be done in school holidays, they didn't have them when i was a kid), strikes etc. Nobody doubts they do a great job but the perks are already in line with that.

I agree, but what has annoyed me the most is the way this government is making it look like public sector workers are the ones to blame for the current situation.
They like to forget the fact it was actually the banks and the failure of this last goverment that put us in this mess. And not forgetting the people that have been claiming benefits illegally and ripping the system off for years. From my point of view that's what annoys me the most.

My wife went in to teaching to make a difference. The pension is a bonus. If you take these things away nobody will want to enter the profession.

 

[Everest]

I'm on temporary strike today.

I'm not doing my school runs.

 

[Lady Whistledown]

You'd think from listening to the parents it was the greatest inconvenience known to man. One day, with plenty of notice? How are you all going to cope with the imminent six weeks off?

 

[John Sayers]

My Wife is also a teacher and is not on strike. In fact she changed unions so as not to strike because she disagrees with it. I am on a final salary pension, but for that privaledge, I have to pay 12% of my wages into the pot. As a teacher they only pay 6% now and it is proposed they will pay 9%. Still alot less than I do, hence she disagrees with the strike.

 

[kingcole]

Dam teachers on strike......

Get in the real world you lazy scroats! Not only do you work a 6 hour day, 5 days a week, you get 12 weeks PAID holiday. You also get a pension - nice one!

Just compare this to the real world..... 40+ hour week and often a commute as well. Pension, only if we pay for it ourselves, and then we will get back what we have invested, rather than the future workforce guaranteeing what you get!

Moaning your low paid too? Does that include the tax credits Im sure most teachers are getting and in many cases some housing benefit too.

Oh and look now. You aint at work. I have to either pay for childcare or not work myself. Thats even less money in the coffers.

This coutry should kill tax credits at once. Kill housing beneit and scrap all public sector final salary pensions with immediate effect.

Then maybe we can afford to reduce VAT and income tax to 10% and give everyone a real incentive to work and save for their retirement, coz I will be dammed if I pay 40% tax for someone who works for 1200 hours a year to get paid for another 40 years after they stop working those 1200 hours a year!

 

[Simster]

Some background to the strike for those that aren't Tories and are well balanced enough to look at the whole picture:

This is not a pension reform – it is simply a pay cut | Blog | False Economy

Exactly. I was speaking to a mate of mine on Monday night about this - his school remain open but everybody is pissed off about the proposals.

As I understand it, the govt want to:
* Up personal contributions and reduce employer contributions
* Enforce a later retirement age.
* Change from a final to average salary final payout.

And they want to impose ALL of this on public sector workers immediately, no staggering, no gradual amendments to the contracts of new workers to reflect the new pension reality. Irrespective of the cushy number they may be on now, you can't impose that many changes at once on a workforce led to believe this is a perk of the job. That is robbery! No wonder they're on strike.

 

[Herr Tubthumper]

More than willing to cross the pickets - nobody will stop me doing what I want to do but I have things planned today as I'm off on holiday in a couple of days time so took today and tomorrow off as there's lots to do. I usually do

Scab

 

[deletebeepbeepbeep]

No, I have to go and earn other people more money after being at work till 9 last night with no overtime etc. Psh.

 

[Herr Tubthumper]

And best wishes to all those striking today.

 

[kingcole]

Exactly. I was speaking to a mate of mine on Monday night about this - his school remain open but everybody is pissed off about the proposals.

As I understand it, the govt want to:
* Up personal contributions and reduce employer contributions - every private sector employee has had to do this, yet we are still dependant on the markets - no final salary luxury crap
* Enforce a later retirement age. - your are living longer - you will actually get paid your pension for more years
* Change from a final to average salary final payout. - Too right. You have paid in all your working life - not just in your last year of work. How much did you pay in when you earned £10k a year and then when you finish on £50k - It's called being fair!

And they want to impose ALL of this on public sector workers immediately, no staggering, no gradual amendments to the contracts of new workers to reflect the new pension reality. Irrespective of the cushy number they may be on now, you can't impose that many changes at once on a workforce led to believe this is a perk of the job. That is robbery! No wonder they're on strike.

Jokers!

 

[Questions]

The pension rates at present are not sustainable.

The calculations show that a mid-ranking teacher on £32,000 a year will receive a final salary pension that is the equivalent of having built up a £500,000 pension pot.This is 20 times higher than the average private sector scheme, according to figures from the Office for National Statistics.
Private sector workers would have to save more than 20 per cent of their salaries for 40 years – more than £500 a month for a similarly paid person — to amass the same amount in a defined contribution pension.(The Telegraph)

I am not sure that I am that happy having to contribute to their pensions considering I would have to pay 22% of my income into a pension fund for some sort of parity. People are living longer now and we all have to shoulder some of the financial burden during the present climate.

F.....g teachers.

 

[Herr Tubthumper]

You'd think from listening to the parents it was the greatest inconvenience known to man. One day, with plenty of notice? How are you all going to cope with the imminent six weeks off?

Quite. It's the same British mentality which leads to panic buying and supermarkets being stripped bare when the shops close for an extra day at Xmas or Easter.

 

[sten_super]

I'm not sure my pension pot is that amazing. Will get 25/80 of average salary on retirement. I fully accept that will have to work longer and contribute more, but the government are negotiating with one hand, making public announcements another, and David Willetts is selling out higher education to factory farm US training companies at the same time.

So that accounts for 25 years of your working life - what were you doing for the other 20? You also omit to mention the lump sum payment upon retirement of 50/80 of your average salary.

The scheme (for teachers) is clearly designed for those that do it 'for life' - if my wife works for 40 years as a teacher (she may work less, but it makes the maths easier) she will then receive 2/3rds of her average salary every year after her retirement. Based upon (currently) contributions of 6% of salary, which the government want to raise to I think 9.5%.

Some background to the strike for those that aren't Tories and are well balanced enough to look at the whole picture:

This is not a pension reform – it is simply a pay cut | Blog | False Economy

I take it this is some kind of joke? I'm not claiming that I'm 'balanced', but to suggest that article is, on a left-wing website, is fantasy. Have you read the Hutton report? I suggest that you do, as it's severely at odds with some of the things stated in that article.

 

[Herr Tubthumper]

The pension rates at present are not sustainable.

The calculations show that a mid-ranking teacher on £32,000 a year will receive a final salary pension that is the equivalent of having built up a £500,000 pension pot.This is 20 times higher than the average private sector scheme, according to figures from the Office for National Statistics.
Private sector workers would have to save more than 20 per cent of their salaries for 40 years – more than £500 a month for a similarly paid person — to amass the same amount in a defined contribution pension.(The Telegraph)

I am not sure that I am that happy having to contribute to their pensions considering I would have to pay 22% of my income into a pension fund for some sort of parity. People are living longer now and we all have to shoulder some of the financial burden during the present climate.

F.....g teachers.

.....but it's fine to spunk billions and billions bailing out banks eh? Why can't the teachers have their pensions sured up in a similar way? There are far better economists than you and I who suggest there is an alternative way...so spare me your back-o-the-fag-packet sums.

 

[El Presidente]

For clarity, is that your current pension or the proposed one, as we are told teachers are on final salary pensions?

Current one. That's for 25 years service in the public sector. I have no issue with paying more money into the scheme, but the average public sector pension is

I took a £10k pay cut to move into teaching, it's something I have always wanted to do, as I believe in the importance of education.

The Hutton report shows the following average pensions in the public sector

The Hutton report found the average pension payments - including workers and dependents - in 2009-10 were as follows:

Local government worker: £4,052
NHS worker: £7,234
Civil servant: £6,199
Teacher: £9,806
Member of armed forces: £7,722

 

[Herr Tubthumper]

The pension rates at present are not sustainable.

The calculations show that a mid-ranking teacher on £32,000 a year will receive a final salary pension that is the equivalent of having built up a £500,000 pension pot.This is 20 times higher than the average private sector scheme, according to figures from the Office for National Statistics.
Private sector workers would have to save more than 20 per cent of their salaries for 40 years – more than £500 a month for a similarly paid person — to amass the same amount in a defined contribution pension.(The Telegraph)

I am not sure that I am that happy having to contribute to their pensions considering I would have to pay 22% of my income into a pension fund for some sort of parity. People are living longer now and we all have to shoulder some of the financial burden during the present climate.

F.....g teachers.

.....but it's fine to spunk billions and billions bailing out banks eh? Why can't the teachers have their pensions sured up in a similar way? There are far better economists than you and I who suggest there is an alternative way...so spare me your back-o-the-fag-packet sums.

 

[El Presidente]

So that accounts for 25 years of your working life - what were you doing for the other 20? You also omit to mention the lump sum payment upon retirement of 50/80 of your average salary.

The scheme (for teachers) is clearly designed for those that do it 'for life' - if my wife works for 40 years as a teacher (she may work less, but it makes the maths easier) she will then receive 2/3rds of her average salary every year after her retirement. Based upon (currently) contributions of 6% of salary, which the government want to raise to I think 9.5%.

I'm not dsputing that greater contributions are necessary, but the Teacher's Pension Scheme was renegotiated in 2007 and there has not been a proper actuarial review since then, so the misinformation about £500k pension pots put out by the Mail is as disingenuous as the left wing crap put out by the UCU.

I have a private pension from working in the private sector until I was 40, it is worth about £60 a week.

 

[El Presidente]

The pension rates at present are not sustainable.

The calculations show that a mid-ranking teacher on £32,000 a year will receive a final salary pension that is the equivalent of having built up a £500,000 pension pot.This is 20 times higher than the average private sector scheme, according to figures from the Office for National Statistics.
Private sector workers would have to save more than 20 per cent of their salaries for 40 years – more than £500 a month for a similarly paid person — to amass the same amount in a defined contribution pension.(The Telegraph)

I am not sure that I am that happy having to contribute to their pensions considering I would have to pay 22% of my income into a pension fund for some sort of parity. People are living longer now and we all have to shoulder some of the financial burden during the present climate.

F.....g teachers.

You're ignoring the fact that public sector salaries are lower than in the private sector. By taking a pay cut of £10k at the age of 40, assuming income growth of 2.5% year until retirement at 66 I will earn £350k less in the public sector over the rest of my career. No grumbles, I love what I do, and the vocational rewards for me outweigh the financial penalties that I chose (no one forced me to, although my position was to a certain extent untenable) to take.

Why do you say f***ing teachers?

 

[blue'n'white]

Scab

Scab - no
Mind of my own and not willing to follow blindly like sheep - yes

 

[Simster]

You'd think from listening to the parents it was the greatest inconvenience known to man. One day, with plenty of notice? How are you all going to cope with the imminent six weeks off?

Spot on.

Agreed - why the parents have to pay for this defies belief. Bet a lot of people are not at my work today as they have to look after their kids. The knock on effect (which is what the teachers are going after I'm sure) is really making them look like arses.

No, what defies belief is your post. The whole point of a strike is to inconvenience their employers - in this case the government, who are then answerable to parents. And once the facts become known, I think there will be plenty of people sympathetic to the teachers.

If this sort of proposal is the government's answer to our economic problems then God help us all.