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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

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Original poster

To remove this person from my Facebook

63 replies

KarenWalker · 11/03/2011 09:38

For the following status:

'Work longer and higher contributions to pensions!!.... a wage freeze!!... Boo Hoo Public sector... join the real world, even with the cuts you're still better off than the majority us in the private sector and we're the one's paying for it!'

I don't work in the public sector but I don't think that people who do aren't in the 'real world'. I was under the impression that public sector provide valuable services and aren't acknowledged enough.It can't get much real than some public sector jobs, can it?

AIBU to remove this person?

OP posts:

BeerTricksPotter · 11/03/2011 12:57

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

wannaBe · 11/03/2011 12:57

"If you think it is an easy ride being a public sector worker, then you are free to become one you know!" I've worked in the public sector. Let's see now as part of my terms of employment I got:

30 days holiday
Flexy time which could be accrued to make up holiday (I used a week of flexy hours as part of my holiday to australia).
Six months maternity leave on full pay.
Retirement at age 60 used to be mandatory.

The organisation I worked for (research council) was very management top-heavy. In our office we had two managers managing one member of staff each, for instance , with three managers above us - the further up the chain you went the more management there was..

The research councils have recently murged into a joint research project - but instead of cutting staff they've employed more. How does that work then?

I don't wish job losses on anyone, but the fact is that most people who have only ever worked in the public sector are living in a bubble and don't have a clue. There's absolutely no reason why public sector workers shouldn't be brought into line with the rest of the work force..

VajazzHands · 11/03/2011 12:59

YABU people are entitled to opions so long as they aren't racist or sexist (which I have deleted people for) you have to accept that

PigValentine · 11/03/2011 13:21

"It can't get much real than some public sector jobs, can it?"

Try working in the charitable sector - which also provide valuable services, but where it is unusual to get anything more than SMP or SSP, minumum holiday, for example, and pensions are very low-return. Plus salaries of even the most senior staff are nowhere near their public sector counterparts.

electra · 11/03/2011 13:28

YANBU - I think politics is a real divider tbh. I am sure people have deleted me for my political views (very left) - I should keep my mouth shut about politics on FB really!

iamabadger · 11/03/2011 13:34

"Public sector" covers a huge range of jobs though doesn't it? I'm a nurse, and expecting nurses, midwives, SOME types of doctor, HCA's, police etc and others who do physically and emotionally demanding jobs to work much past 60 is unreasonable. I suffer from back pain already and I'm only 25. On the other hand, people doing admin type roles may be able to work longer simply because they haven't had the physical strain. I really resent the implication that we can all be lumped together as public sector, and that what we do is somehow less valuable just because there is a recession which of all the people you could blame, the emergency services are certainly not it! Will those people who took on unmanageable debt and hammered credit cards to buy shit be willing to take paycuts or have their pensions taken away? NHS staff, and I'm sure other frontline services pay a higher percentage of their wage into their pension fund because we need to retire earleir in most cases. There is also some interseting figures regarding how long a police worker lives, on average, post-retirement-it's not long!

MadamDeathstare · 11/03/2011 14:02

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

kirrinIsland · 11/03/2011 14:32

The problem seems to be that some people think that all public sector jobs are cushy, and whilst many management or higher level jobs undoubtably are, the vast majority are not. Looking at wannabe's list above - I get the 6 weeks holiday (for which I am very grateful), but I don't get flexi-time, I certainly don't get 6 months maternity leave on full pay, there's no mandatory retirement age and I don't have a final salary pension. I work evenings, weekends and bank holidays as part of my core hours (i.e. no enhanced pay)and get one half hour break a day (unpaid). I don't think I have it tough but equally I don't think my working conditions differ greatly from those who do a similar job but in the private sector. And as for those who say the private sector pays for the public sector - we pay tax too.
There are some ridiculous "made-up" jobs and there are often far too many layers of management but,as iamabadger says, there's a vast range of jobs in the public sector and to lump us all together as public enemy number one does a great disservice to the vast majority of public sector workers.
YANBU to disagree, but I wouldn't delete her unless she's only a FB friend.

NoWayNoHow · 11/03/2011 14:35

YABU. I have a FB whose pre- and post- election ravings comments really started to get tiresome after a while.

I just hid him until he had the good sense to stop badgering sharing his ill-thought opinions!

Not worth a delete - as someone has said already, it's just FB.

NinkyNonker · 11/03/2011 15:12

Tis a free world. And that includes your friend's right to be a pillock with an opinion stolen from the Daily Mail or some such tosh who doesn't realise that those who work for the public sector are still human beings not personally responsible for what is going on financially in the UK at the moment.

NinkyNonker · 11/03/2011 15:15

Not sure I could be friends with someone with such small minded views though, I suspect they would irritate me on a number of scores.

noodle69 · 11/03/2011 15:16

I think a lot of public sector jobs are cushy (I have done a few before such as when I was in the forces I had it very cushy. I have also done a public sector jobs outside to and they have been good as you get loads of leave, time off, sick pay and decent wages. Its not something you really get much in the private sector.

noodle69 · 11/03/2011 15:21

Another thing is a lot of jobs never get pay increments or rises. In the public sector you do though and I think that is the best thing about it. Also pensions are good as most jobs you dont get any kind of pension on retirement.

NinkyNonker · 11/03/2011 15:25

Really? I always had a contributory pension, better salary than public sector and enhanced maternity benefits in the private sector.

For many the enhanced pension of a public sector job was an incentive as the public sector traditionally paid less than the private ad it was regulated and banded instead of being a free market.

Besides, the individuals affected should sympathised with regardless as it isn't their fault yet are being negatively affected.

capricorn76 · 11/03/2011 15:30

The media have clearly done a fantastic job for the Tories. Playing the classic divide and rule game which makes both public and private sector workers worse off.

The vast majority of public sector workers are low paid, there are a few such as politicians and some senior level civil servants who earn lots which drive up the average wage

Public sector workers also work for a living they are not sponging off private sector workers.

The media especially the Daily Mail has been drip feeding stories highlighting the minority of highly paid public sector workers in order to turn the private sector against them so we will accept cuts more readily.

Taking away the rights and privileges of public sector employees does not strengthen the position of the private sector employee, in fact it weakens it as public sector rights are what the private sector has to benchmark itself against.

The government helped by the media attacked the disabled and those on benefits before the cuts and many people fell for it and now it?s the public sectors turn.

It was people in the private sector that ruined our economy and the public sector are being made scapegoats and no I'm not a public sector employee, I'm a private sector employer but I feel sorry for the public sector employees.

This is why its so easy for the ruling class to treat the British people like shit as they are so easily distracted from the real culprits, they manage it every time.

end of rant!

Back to the topic. OP if you feel uneasy having such a twat as a friend on Facebook, then delete him. It's your account and you don't have to be friends with anyone you don't want to.

altinkum · 11/03/2011 15:31

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

noodle69 · 11/03/2011 15:36

'Really? I always had a contributory pension, better salary than public sector and enhanced maternity benefits in the private sector.'

Dont really know any people with a pension in the private sector. Its something I associate with public sector workers. I also dont know any private sector workers personally who make more than public sector workers. That is why people like public sector jobs as you are a bit more spoilt and I know I did when I did them.

noodle69 · 11/03/2011 15:45

Also what is annoying is the government have brought that pvi sector pension thing where they help out with national insurance payments. Its rubbish though as you have to have a basic wage of 14k and a lot of managers arent even on that much so a lot of workers miss out. That is why a lot of pvi workers wont get a pension unfortunately.

NinkyNonker · 11/03/2011 15:45

Every company I worked for offered them in various forms. Also the option to buy discounted healthcare and insurances etc, an option not available to my friends in the public sector (I don't work). Discounted car purchases also, car and travel allowances, overtime payments etc.

In my field (marketing and PR ) I earnt considerably more than i would have done in an equivalent public sector role with easier promotion, pay rise potential etc.

noodle69 · 11/03/2011 15:56

I think that means you havent really worked in the private sector jobs that the person who wrote the status have then. Most private sector jobs in my area you dont get sick pay, any extra for maternity, the lowest amount for holidays, no overtime, no pension, no claims back for anything and no annual rises.

That is the reality for many, many private sector workers. I dont begrudge public sector workers for what they get (as I have been one in various jobs in past) but you do get a lot more benefits than a lot of private sector workers.

expatinscotland · 11/03/2011 16:26

'I don't see how their pensions can be cut...it's part of what they signed up for when they got the job..
Some/most of them will have stayed in those jobs all their lives because of the pension at the end.'

What if the money just isn't there? Because it may come to that.

You can't get blood out of a stone.

ilovemydogandMrObama · 11/03/2011 16:30

Problem is though what is defined as 'public sector.'

It could be the Chairman of RBS these days...

WhensBedtime · 11/03/2011 16:40

Expat wrote, "It's not realistic for people to expect to retire at 55, live to 85+ or more and collect final salary for 30-odd years. That's just not sustainable for any society."

Exactly. I think that's what your FB friend is gettin at.

The OP's post highlights the problem with FB, Twitter, blogs, etc. People have always had very different views from their friends BUT now these views are out in the open, there in black and white for everyone to see. It makes people confront the fact that their friends hold certain views.

OTheHugeManatee · 11/03/2011 16:44

YABU. It's just an opinion.

OTheHugeManatee · 11/03/2011 16:45

"The media have clearly done a fantastic job for the Tories. "

The Torygraph has repeatedly been saying they don't think Cameron is much of a Tory at all.

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