to say this to all the teachers who are striking next week

[Memoo]

As a parent I am 100 % behind you.

I really appreciate that you put your life and soul into your job and im sorry more people don't get just how hard you work for the benefit of our children.

Don't let the bastards grind you down!

and it can't be right to rob peter to pay paul.

EXACTLY. Right now it's "I want my pension that I was promised. I don't care you can't afford to pay for it anymore. You can tax our kids instead". So our kids are Peter and the strikers are Paul.

Okay, so it is more important to please the banks than the public employees. Easier to get the money from us as we are being held to ransom by the banks. By the rich people who will leave the country if we dont make their lives easier. Easier to screw us over rather than fight corruption. Easier to sell us off and sell us out. Except where are all these banks going to go now the whole world is in financial trouble?

No, our kids are the kids of Peter and the big greedy financial houses and the government are Paul.

Fair enough to go on strike because your contractual rights are being changed. Not right to say you are doing it for us all by using 'Fair Pensions For All' as the slogan. This should be challenged legally as should only be used if it is a protest against the State Pension Age being increased. Don't kid yourself into thinking this will make any difference to terms and conditions in the private sector. That is my objection to 30 November. Not the right to strike but to claim it is in the interests of everybody as the TUC seem to have taken this on as a political challenge to the Government. It is a strike for the interests only of 20% of the working population.

Those jobs will still be filled by good people if the pension benefits are reduced. If you are a teacher/nurse can you hand on heart tell us that you will leave the profession if pension rights are reduced? and if so have you looked at an alternate private sector job?

It is not tax payers fault etc that most public sector workers are women. Equal rights for all. Do you expect to get paid more than a man because you take career breaks or work part-time, no so why should your pension not be the same. I work part-time but would never expect better treatment. Career-average will not affect you more because you work part-time. All that will help is that you years when you worked part-time will be pro-ratad as they are in a final salary pension scheme. That is equal rights. Nobody forced us to go part-time and I speak for myself here also.

I have a strong grip on reality. I support the teachers 100%.

I hope it works.

My bother is a teacher and he's not striking, I told him I was disappointed in him. He reckons the pension changes won't make a lot of difference. He earns 31k a year and says he'll have to pay £12 a month extra towards his pension. He says going from a final salary to a career average won't make a lot of difference. I said that it must do but he says he's sat down and done the figures and it doesn't.

He's of the opinion that the money isn't there or even if its there now then it won't be in 15 or 20 years time so we need to do something now rather than leave it.

Why were you disappointed in your brother for making his own decision based on financial facts?

Well I'm less disappointed in him now he's explained all of that to me, especially if it is correct. But when he first said he wasn't striking I thought it was a shame that he's basicly being a scab.

If what he's saying is right why are the unions making such a fuss?

FontSnob. I think you need to get a coherent and consistent argument together. So far it would seem you are striking because of the pension changes, classroom conditions and now you want the bankers to pay. Quite how I've no idea.

Unfortunately the issue of pensions is not the fault of the bankers. This problem has been around for decades, there was talk of this even during Thatcher's reign. But each government previously has ducked it because it's a sure fire vote loser. Until now where we have no choice.

The banks are not forcing the government to borrow money. It's because we're overspending that we NEED to borrow money.

Where I work, we have just lost 40% of staff due to budget cuts. Before that we had a recruitment freeze for two years where people left and simply were not replaced, with existing staff taking up the slack. My own team has taken a cut of 50%. We are operating with far fewer people, in an environment where the workload has increased rather than decreased.

In addition to that we continue to have a pay freeze. So I feel that we are doing our bit and making a significant contribution to saving the Government money.

For me the pensions issue is the final straw. We have already gone through public sector pension reform - the negotiated changes to our pensions in 2007 reduced the value of public sector pensions by around 10%. The NAO described the last changes as reducing the costs of pensions to taxpayers by £67 billion, over the next 50 years, bringing costs down to 1% of GDP.

The action the Government is taking will ultimately result in people leaving these schemes - I think a survey found that around a third of public sector workers said they will opt out if the Government's proposed reforms go through. These people will add to the shocking number of private sector employees with no pension provision. And who will be picking up the tab for people without pensions in the future? The taxpayer though welfare and benefits.

Polly what you have described is exactly what most in the private sector have experienced in the last few years and they have far shitier pensions than you're being offered.

VivaLeBeaver. Your brother is one of the (very, very) few teachers who have actually had the sense to sit down and work things out. The majority of teachers seem to be behaving like sheep.

Excellent post Polly.

The local government pension scheme is entirely self financing. The extra money the government want us to pay in contributions will not be put into the scheme, but will be used to reduce the employer contributions, so it is in fact a pay cut on top of the pay freeze we already have for the next few years.

I accept that the country is in an economic hole and as we are all living longer pension schemes do need to change, but this is a triple wammy and public sector workers are being expected to carry more than their share of the burden.

Lavenderrose - if you are so inept that you submit a post like you have done, I really don't think there will be many parents willing to trust their children to your care.

Viva I think your brother is spectacularly missing the point of unions. The strike are a collective action becuase collectively they view the changes as bad overall. Just cos your brother is only £12 a month worse off doesn't mean that everyone else is OK. he shoudl be striking because the majority will be much worse off than himself.

Or heshoudl leave the union if he doesn't believe in supporting his colleagues.

This is so depressing. Our school is closed, as are all the state schools in our area. The private schools aren't of course, so the kids who already have an advantage get even more. public sector workers live in a dream world, I know because I used to be one. I am looking forward to explaining to my kids why they will be working to pay the pensions of the people who didn't care enough about their future to go in and teach them. This won't be the last strike, because the problem is so intractable . I lives through this in the 80s and saw people's education messed up. I am so sad to be watching it start again .

*and it can't be right to rob peter to pay paul.

EXACTLY. Right now it's "I want my pension that I was promised. I don't care you can't afford to pay for it anymore. You can tax our kids instead". So our kids are Peter and the strikers are Paul.*

I'll tell you what. Many of my co-workers are coming out of the pension fund because they cannot AFFORD the £139 a month that it is costing us to be in it, and thats at CURRENT levels. That's what I pay, and my pension will be under 5 GRAND A YEAR. For me to have a reasonable pension,it is estimated that I will need to put in another £200 a month till I retire in the form of AVC's

Private pensions take people of out pension credit,HB and CTB. Plus many of the other benefits that older people are entitled to. So how about we ALL come out the pension fund, and then our future generations will pay for our care, pay our pension credit and the pensioners of tomorrow will even more of a burden on the taxpayer. I estimated with the pension I get, I will be £40 a week better off in money that I have,but will lose in other ways.

At retirement age,we will still be liable for tax, and still able to contribute to the economy through taxes etc. Less of a drain on the overburdened benefits system. So it is a simple choice, govt pay for it now, or pay for it later. The government have already stated that they are running scared when the people born in the 60's and 70's reach retirement age,because there are not enough young people to support the system. Already we have a system where there are nurses and teachers who cannot afford to retire because their pensions are not what they expected, creating a glut at the top, and partly responsible for trained teachers and nurses, who cannot get jobs.

The pensions crisis is going to get a LOT worse than next Wednesday and public sector strikes.

Titchy, my brother is saying that people won't be worse off, well a little bit but similar to how he will be worse off.

Swedeheart made a point just above yours saying that my brother is one of the few to have done the sums rather than just listened to the unions and behaved like sheep. This is exactly what he's saying. He says it isn't going to be as bad for anyone as what the unions are saying and that people need to do the sums for themselves.

I'm kind of torn to be honest. I totally see the sense in what he's saying if his sums are correct and he's very intelligent and thorough so I wouldn't doubt him. But i do agree that maybe then he should think about leaving the union. But I suppose he wants to stay for other benefits such as professional advice and assistance if needed. If he doesn't believe in the strike then should he strike for the sake of sticking with the union? I don't know.

Some private schools round us are closing/operating limited lessons.
Which is a disappointment.

Viva's brother has made a sensible assessment. Shame more aren't like him.

Well I would not feel any obligation to strike given the low turnout in the votes. Hardly ringing endorsements of strike action were they?

The Government is doing a good job setting private and public sector workers against each other on this issue MrsHeffley.

You're talking about fairness and I am simply pointing out that public sector workers are already bearing an awful lot of the pain. I would like to see fairness in pensions and good terms and conditions across both sectors. If the Government is able to treat its employees in this way - by tearing up what has been contractually agreed based on an argument that many people dispute, ie unaffordability - what does that say to private sector employers about how employees should be treated? Will you be happy when we're all under US style terms and conditions?

And meanwhile those who should really be the targets of anger appear not to be "in it together" with the rest of us.
www.mumsnet.com/Talk/in_the_news/1348617-Executive-pay-up-4-000-average-pay-three-times-what-it-was

Yes, he also mentioned about the low vote turnout.

Exactly Susanne.

12 million people in the UK have no pension provision at all. There's a burden on our kids in the future, right there.

But easier to demonise public sector workers eh? Depriving your children of a days learning.

No public sector workers are not bearing a lot of the pain the private sector has been for the last few years, quietly without moaning I might add as most live in the real world and know this a problem one can't hope will just go away as if by magic.

It's hardly even begun for public sector workers who actually don't want any pain what so ever and would rather the rest of us paid off the debt without effecting them at all.

You're not loosing anything you've already paid in.

You're still getting a waaaaaay better deal.

You're protected by unions when there are redundancies,changes etc.

There is no money.

Quit moaning.