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!

butterflies Actuary

ooooh, Norfolk, i'm all a flutter now.

Awwww thanks! Off to governors' meeting now - lucky me. Wonder what posts will await me when I get back?

butterfly I work in a shop for a very large retail company.
They are utter assholes a joy to work for!

I'd quesdtion your own financial literacy, lovely.

Pay £80 more every single month. Get a whole lot less back in return. Hm.

Okay this from NUT website:"Hutton Report on Public Sector Pensions - press release

• 9 March 2011.

Commenting ahead of Lord Hutton?s report on public sector pensions, Christine Blower, General Secretary of the National Union of Teachers, the largest teachers? union said;

?Lord Hutton in his first report last October recognised that public sector pensions are far from ?gold plated? and that the changes already made in 2007 are cutting their costs. Despite this, he appears to have swallowed the lie that public sector pensions are still unaffordable.

?The National Audit Office has confirmed that public sector pension costs are falling as expected due to the reforms already in place. Teachers are already paying more, the normal pension age has been raised to 65 for new entrants and employer contributions have been capped.

Sorry, this does not say it is sustainable, merely costs are falling.Please point out where it claims to be sustainable long term. Oh and in 2007 this allows for employer 14% contribution compared to employee 6.4% (have heard 6.8% quoted previously but 6.4% is from an NUT website presentation). This would not be rarely (if ever) the case in the private sector.

More recent info from NUT website:
"Lord Hutton?s final report on 10 March has set out various options for change ? all will cut our pensions."

Sounds like he wanted change.

This is my comment in case it makes confusing reading:

"Sorry, this does not say it is sustainable, merely costs are falling.Please point out where it claims to be sustainable long term. Oh and in 2007 this allows for employer 14% contribution compared to employee 6.4% (have heard 6.8% quoted previously but 6.4% is from an NUT website presentation). This would be rarely (if ever) the case in the private sector."

Thanks thisisasign, do you know how the salary,t&c and pension compares with actuary jobs in the public sector ( I assume they do exist)?

Henwelly, thanks, my DD does too so I know what you mean if it's the same one!

I support the strike.

I think that one of the reasons private sector workers are so angry is because they're fed up of being told the myth that one of the reasons why public sector pensions are so good is to compensate for lower-than-average pay.

On average public sector workers are paid 7.8% more than private sector staff. However, if you look at skill groups the picture is far more complicated. At higher levels, where public sector employees have degrees, etc., they are paid less than their private sector counterparts. This group accounts for about 40% of the public sector and they 6are^ undervalued and underpaid. However, the truth remains that the 60% who are not as highly qualified receive better pay and a pension than those in the private sector.

Secondly, many private sector employees don't have a pension at all. 41% women. 29% men. Out of those who do have a pension, many are paying nowhere near the amount they need to even cover a basic existence on retirement. Many private sector workers can barely afford to keep a roof over their heads, let along pay into a pension (same is true for some public sector workers too).

Public sector workers also benefit more than private sector workers in terms of availability of flexible working and staff protection.

THe truth is, however, that for all but the best off 25% of the country, it is hard for everyone and everyone is struggling ATM.

I 100% support the strike. No one wins if we adopt the poorest/cheapest working conditions as the 'standard' we should all be judged by. What we hold up as the 'generous' working conditions of the public sector should be a national standard in a modern, civilised society.

Most of us on here are mothers. Women, particularly mothers, have most to lose if all these reforms go ahead, and it's already happening - the number of women now unemployed has reached it's highest in 25 years. That's because flexible working is being eroded and childcare help reduced. Women who care for their children, their own parents, neighbours, helping out at school, etc., are effectively being punished for their vital social role. Even though it saves the country billions in unpaid labour.

And it is unacceptable to change terms and conditions partway through an established agreement. That's basically a breach of contract.

The way worker's rights are being eroded in this country is terrifying. As long as you're not ill, disabled, old or a parent, you'll be fine... So that's about 85% of the country potentially screwed then.

Sadly, the only solution to this is more money. And that can only come through tax, which people seem strangely reluctant to pay . If you're not prepared to pay it though, you have no choice but to accept an economy in which workers are completely expendable and have no rights or support.

I'm a police officer, we don't have the right to strike, we've been told we're not able to take any leave on the day of the strike. DH is also a police officer. Not sure what we're going to do with the 3 DCs but other than that support the strike!

I see it that, as we can't strike, the public workers who are striking are doing it on our behalf as well, i.e. for ALL public workers, not just teachers for teachers etc.

Thanks.

But the tax will mainly be of our children (already dealing with tuition fees, extortionate house prices.....). They have had no say. An aging population will confound these problems. I am more concerned in 10 years time.

the reason we have/had a decent pension was cause we paid 11% of our wages into it.

We're now, like others expected to pay more in (14%) and get less out at the end of it. We're also being told that we are being expected to work for longer for the smaller pension. Not sure people in our job will be able to physically keep doing the job for much longer. The life expectancy of a police officer who has stayed on front line for his/her service is 4 years following retirement!

How do you all feel about the fact that it will be women hardest hit by the proposed changes to the pension scheme?

beepbeep I sympathise with you enormously. Like I said, I support this strike. The solution is not to drag everyone down to the lowest level.

iggly - most people would be better off paying more tax but then not having to pay for many of the things that currently have to come out of wages because there isn't enough state money to cover them. I could pay up to 60% of my income in tax and still be better off than I am now paying basic rate only but having to cover childcare, school dinners, etc etc.

I'm a parent and I support the strike.

All I know is that my striking teacher friend who earns nearly £40k as a primary school teacher will retire on a heck of a lot more than Dh (private guitar tutor) or I (freelance marketing consultant) And she earns more than us too. But one of us will have to take a day off work on wednesday and because we are both self employed that will be a days wages lost too.

I normally support strike action but my sympathy is running low. .

I'm private sector minimum wage,no pension,and DH is public sector below national average wage.I don't want our kids to have to provide for us in our old age.
Do those higher earners who object to the strikes think I can afford to lose a days pay for my DH to strike? We can't.He ain't doing it for fun.But he's a union member and proud to stand up with the teachers and the other public sector workers and tell David Cameron AND Nick Clegg that we cannot and will not take this lying down.

I have paid into the NHS pension scheme for 26 years. I will be striking on Wednesday. My banner for a local demonstration will not say 'Save My Pension' but 'Save Our NHS'.

Sunshineandbooks. Do not see the relevance.Childcare is better supported in other european countries (Denmark, sweden, Norway) and it gets more mothers back to work (I support better childcare wholeheartedly if working parents).

This is not paying for childcare (nb in this country 30% children in poverty 16% pensioners).

Stuff changes, there's not enough money to pay for it to stay the same.

I feel sorry for those affected by change - I am one of them myself.

Our health system is enviable, our education system, as compared to other countries, is an absolute advertisement for private education, and a shame to our economy.

Which is evidenced by the lack of knowledge of any global economic knowledge, by its members who have seemed to think that they are anything that extremely lucky, compared to other European countries, and the salary cuts that they are having to stomach.

Anyone who voted Labour should be looking to what they did to the economy, in order to buy votes. Is anyone on here an economics teacher? Or a maths teacher?

The deficit means that these cuts are, by necessity, only the very beginning.

My DH and I are both graduates with additional professional qualifications and earn less in our private sector jobs than a standard scale teacher. I stay in my job because I am loyal to the people I work for and with as is DH. Both of us would be better off as teachers. Good unis and my DH nothing from his employer into pension. I get 4% if I pay 4%. My DCs want to be teachers. Good luck to them although I doubt this strike will make any difference and the pensions will be reduced anyway but will always be better than the private sector so there is no race to the bottom. That is a myth as is the myth that the public sector is undervalued. They already have the respect of the parents and their patients but to want to keep everything little thing they have and not be prepared to accept any changes to pensions even though the 2007 review said the TPS was sustainable (although assumptions may not have been too prudent) but longevity has increased since then. My sympathy for better working conditions and a good wage is high. My sympathy for pensions is low. I support the right to strike though but really do feel it is a waste of a day's pay for you all.