aibu to think that all those striking on thursday are being selfish and greedy?

[hellospoon]

And they should be thankful that they even have a job?

In a day where thousands of people are unemployed and living in poor conditions surely these teachers should be thankful they even have a job!

Many parents are having to take leave, some unpaid I presume the effect that it will have on family's is ridiculous.

yabu for both your premise and for starting yet another teacher bashing thread.

YANBU. I was expecting to retire at 60 (50 now) and now I have to work until 66. Private pensions suffered in 1997 when Gordon Brown started taxing the dividends on investments for private pension funds. We are all worse off but we are not all striking. I do think the teachers and public sector unions are being disingenuous - the teachers have very secure jobs and compared to the majority they are not badly paid, especially if both partners in a relationship work. I don't think they are doing themselves any favours at all and at my daughter's school they have already damaged themselves, not because of the strike but because of the very rude letter that contained not one jot of an apology for potential inconvenience.

Do anybody on here know anything about how pension schemes work?

Of course you are being unreasonable.

And it's 'families', not family's.

And if anyone thinks it is an easy ride being a teacher, then you are welcome to retrain to become one.

'Thankful they've got a job' is the current situation. When the financial situation improves, will they be getting their pensions back? No? And it will be a bit late to go on strike about it then, won't it.

Your view is very short-sighted.

Yes animation. In fact the changes to the Teachers Pension Fund will only affect those who have joined after 2007! The scheme is final salary still, the majority can still retire at 60 without taking actuarially reduced benefits, they will still have the statutory right to take early retirement at 55 with the lump sum paid, have a day's break in employment and be statutorily entitled to their existing job back and build up another pension pot to which the government contributes 12% of their salary per annum. It remains the best pension fund in the UK. It is still better than the Local Government Scheme.

YABU. It's a self-destructive attitude to think: they're better off than me, let's bring them down. It's true that a lot of public sector pensions are a better deal! What does that mean about private pensions?

IMO, this is like the masses of minimum wage workers who want to cut benefits. If someone living on the minimum the government says you need to live on is better off than you, then, yes, you should be angry! With the person paying your wages.

Look upward.

Cookster -

Thanks for that.

Seems like an OK pension deal to me too.

YABVU.

Do you think we'd have statutory sick leave, maternity leave, protective contracts, H & S at work etc etc etc if workers hadn't demanded them?

It's not about some folk being better off than others, it's about the fact that teachers need to be realistic about what returns to expect in this current climate. I don't know if they have any idea what's going on out there.

YABmassivelyU

Cookster - I am no expert (not striking as not my union) but we have been told something very different to what you posted. We've been told we will not be able to touch our pension until either 66 or 68. Of course we can stop early (as anyone can) but we still cant touch our pension till much later and this is for people in it before 2007.

and it is no longer going to be final salary from now on for anyone regardless of when you came into it.

YABU....

We need good quality teachers to teach our children...with reasonable terms and conditions and promises honoured re pensions and the like.

Teachers going on strike (and it's only one Union I believe - Unison) will be losing a days pay on Thursday to protest against changes being imposed on them. That's not greedy or selfish.

Are you a peeved parent, unsympathetic because you will may have to keep your child home that day? If so...it's you who are selfish. You should be supporting the teachers who do an incredible job.

Yabu

Rainbow - have you been told that by Capita who actually run the Teachers Pension Fund. If not, I think it would be a good idea to give them a ring (the number is on your TPS statements) or log onto their website. I think you will find that there is a lot of propaganda circulating and it is not based on actual facts. Please, please ask the TPS. I recently attended a TPS seminar and that wasn't the information that members were given.

Lecturers are striking too. We arent that greedy. I lose a third of my week's pay and I dont even have any students in to affect. Just for our gold plated £6K pension.

The way things are going...I can see the best of our doctors, nurses, teachers and other professionals taking their skills abroad.

Who could blame them....there is not enough recognition/reward over here any more.

It wasnt Capita but it was a company who are an invest company connected to teachers pensions. They gave us a talk in our school recently.

You read the Daily Mail, dont you OP?

YABVVU
I respect anybody's right to strike, whether I agree with the reasons for the strike or not.
What's the alternative? Just suck it up and say and do nothing? I hope I never live in a world where that is allowed to happen.

Yabu. Teacher's are underpaid in general given their responsibility and level of education. They are unable to move to a different employer & change their conditions so too right they want to protect what they have. When you take a position in any kind of employment you look at the whole package, not just the monthly pay. Many people compromise on a lower monthly wage in return for better working conditions and/or benefits packages. Why is it right that they should just accept this?

In my bilos University (he's a lecturer)...up to a third of lecturers will be losing their jobs (it's already started).

These are highly trained individuals.....

Who will teach the next generation of professionals....and what calibre will they be...being taught in under-staffed colleges and universities. That's even if they can afford the rising fees.

meant BILs....

blooming keyboard

Yes YABU