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Original poster

I don't understand striking

83 replies

WrendaleCountryDogs · 27/01/2023 12:31

I really don't understand striking. If you're not happy with your pay, get another job. I work in a care home. I'm on £9.80 an hour. No, it's not enough. But its a job. Amazon are striking because they want more than £10.50 an hour for packing parcels. I earn less to keep people alive. Medication, food, personal care etc.

OP posts:
Beansonbeans · 27/01/2023 12:33

It's not a race to the bottom. It's not that they deserve less, it's that you deserve more.

Don't tear others down in the process. Striking is a valid way of effecting change.

SpangoDweller · 27/01/2023 12:33

Strive for better. We’re all worth it.

SquashPenguin · 27/01/2023 12:33

Ok, so what happens if all the nurses and paramedics take your advice? How do you fix that problem? We don’t have enough as it is!

ThursdayLastWeek · 27/01/2023 12:33

I wonder how you’d feel if you’d invested tens of thousands of pounds in qualifications and were still being paid below the living wage.

pilates · 27/01/2023 12:34

Good for you for being honest. You are definitely in a profession which should get paid way more. Be prepared to get a load of abuse though.

OnOldOlympus · 27/01/2023 12:35

If you're not happy with your pay, get another job.

That’s an oversimplification of a complicated problem. For example, in the NHS, pay is set nationally. You can’t just “find another job” without leaving the NHS. Which people are doing, in huge numbers, so now everywhere is understaffed and the workload for the staff that remain is increasing all the time.

Care work is horribly underpaid though, you definitely deserve more.

name985 · 27/01/2023 12:35

Absolutely not diminishing care work here because it's a vital task I absolutely couldn't do.

Some professionals have trained for 4-7 years to enter the profession, and often amounting huge amounts of debt. It's not as straightforward as just getting another job. If these professionals leave you are also losing vital skills.

Throughout history people have used the right to strike. It is absolutely not a new thing. It has successfully gained rights and fairer pay for workers.

Changemaname1 · 27/01/2023 12:36

Beansonbeans · 27/01/2023 12:33

It's not a race to the bottom. It's not that they deserve less, it's that you deserve more.

Don't tear others down in the process. Striking is a valid way of effecting change.

This !!

you deserve better pay ( op) not that others deserve less aswell

Changemaname1 · 27/01/2023 12:37

And even if it was as simple as getting a better job

the low paid job would still be there for someone else

MrsSkylerWhite · 27/01/2023 12:37

What an odd argument. You’re happy with your lot so everyone else ought to be?

Italiandreams · 27/01/2023 12:37

Because people think of the greater organisation, they think everyone deserves more pay. It’s not just about them, all nurses deserve more pa for the job they do etc

Soubriquet · 27/01/2023 12:39

If everyone went to “get another job” because they are unhappy with their pay, no one would work in the profession.

So no care workers….cos they have all fucked off to get better pay.

SliceOfCakeCupOfTea · 27/01/2023 12:41

Teaching, like many other professions, takes years of training, funding and qualifications. So people can't just be a teacher. If someone has worked hard to fund and gain their qualification, they probably love the job or are passionate about it. We, as a country, need teachers. There is no compromise really, no teachers and the country will crumble.
Many teachers haven't just entered the workforce so they have been feeling the pinch every year when inflation has risen more than their wages to the point that teachers are being forced out because they can't afford to continue AND we don't have the numbers of new teachers to plug the gaps.
So something needs to change. We can't have no teachers, we can't keep teachers due to pay and conditions and we can't attach teachers due to pay and conditions. Therefore pay and conditions need to change. The government won't accept this so the teachers are demonstrating that they, the gov, have to listen. Whatever the outcome, the gov can't ignore anymore. They either up the funding or they accept that the whole education system will crumble, the workforce will crumble, none can pay tax, the country goes under.

You also need fair pay in your role. How will you get it?

VivaVivaa · 27/01/2023 12:41

It saddens me that you can’t see that you deserve more (as all carers do), not that others deserve less. Pitting low/middle earners against each other in some kind of race to the bottom does nothing but maintain the extremely unequal distribution of wealth in this country.

SliceOfCakeCupOfTea · 27/01/2023 12:41

This is just an example btw, but you get the gist for other industries.

WhineWhineWINE · 27/01/2023 12:42

I have to admit, I worry about what's happening now. With so many industries on strike, where will the money come to pay for what they're all asking for? If they give in to one, will that mean they have to give in to all? I thought that to bring down inflation is to stop people spending as much - if we all get paid what we want, how does that happen? I know we're in this mess due to years of underfunding and I certainly don't have any better ideas or claim to understand the economics, but how is this going to be resolved? Really not criticising in any way, but I just don't see a way forward.

balloontrip · 27/01/2023 12:45

I believe you should be paid much more for what you do. I also believe that highly qualified skilled workers deserve more.

vodkaredbullgirl · 27/01/2023 12:49

WrendaleCountryDogs · 27/01/2023 12:31

I really don't understand striking. If you're not happy with your pay, get another job. I work in a care home. I'm on £9.80 an hour. No, it's not enough. But its a job. Amazon are striking because they want more than £10.50 an hour for packing parcels. I earn less to keep people alive. Medication, food, personal care etc.

I'm lucky where I work, they pay us more than NMW. They do it because they can't afford to keep losing staff.

Circumferences · 27/01/2023 12:50

If all the nurses/posties/teachers quit to "get another job" there would be no nurses/posties/teachers because they aren't paid enough.

That's literally the point of striking.

Circumferences · 27/01/2023 12:52

Join a union and strike OP then you'd get a pay rise

Circumferences · 27/01/2023 12:54

Striking is to demonstrate what it would be like if everyone left to get a different job.

Exasperatednow · 27/01/2023 12:59

WrendaleCountryDogs · 27/01/2023 12:31

I really don't understand striking. If you're not happy with your pay, get another job. I work in a care home. I'm on £9.80 an hour. No, it's not enough. But its a job. Amazon are striking because they want more than £10.50 an hour for packing parcels. I earn less to keep people alive. Medication, food, personal care etc.

Maybe you should unionise and go on strike.

There's a reason why the government put care homes in the hands of private organisations. It made it harder for people to act together for better pay.

AnekeSchuss · 27/01/2023 13:00

It’s collective action which has more impact for change than individual statements.

minou123 · 27/01/2023 13:04

So you're thought process is because you put up with getting a crap wage and poor working conditions, everyone else should. Is that it?

All the "benefits" you have, annual leave, maternity leave, sick leave contracted working hours, safe working practices, etc etc are all available to you because people in the past fought for those rights for you.

Businesses and employers didn't just wake up one day and think "I know we will treat are employees better"
Everything we have is because men and women went out on strikes, petitioned governments and fought for it.

CaMePlaitPas · 27/01/2023 13:10

The worker has fallen in love with the system that exploits them.

People in care absolutely should strike. You deserve at least double what you're earning right now, but because you take it and your attitude is "well, it's a job, at least I've got one" you are and will be stuck at 9 pound an hour.

I've known enough people who run care homes who drive around in top end cars and run them from the Caribbean during the winter months. Don't be thankful for the meagre bones a multi million company throws at you each month.

On a human level too, we are not on the planet to work ourselves into the ground lining the pockets of greedy individuals with no social conscience. I'm not against profit per se but I am against companies who are in positions to pay people more and actively chose not to.