aibu to be worried at how much these strikes are going to cost me financially?

[watchoutforthatsnail]

I'm a lone working parent, part time work, low wage.
I have noone that can look after dd. All annual leave is being refused.
I have found childcare at a cost of £30, which I can't really afford, least of all right now.

The news is reporting that this will be the first of many, and I'm sure I can't be the only one in this situation.

What am I meant to do?

indeed it is.

Me & DP are both striking that day, and will be offering an am/pm playdate to any kids from DSs reception class whose parents cant get cover.

Hoping not too many will take me up on it!

EcoLady Fri 25-Nov-11 11:39:37
Striking is the last resort. No-one does it lightly.

Err, the last London Underground strike was called because two people were told to stay at home on full pay for a few weeks...

Glad I got to the end, so far, and you're sorted for this strike.

Could you get ahead with a few favours and invite a few others over so that if there is another time, or even a chance for some overtime you might be able to get a reciprocal arrangement of someone?

Glad you got it sorted but YABU in the first instance. My other half is striking and is a union rep. She had her pay frozen as the price of everything went up. So we essentially took a pay cut. And we were struggling before, and now everything is tight for us. We food shop for 4 of us on a weekly budget of £30.

If these strikes don't happen, dp will work for longer, pay more into her pension but receive less! Considering there was already a pension reform two years ago, that a lot of workers reluctantly agreed too, for the government to ask them what they are asking is outrageous. They extra money dp and others would pay would NOT go to their pension but to the government. As the extra money she pays in would not be seen by us in retirement years. So £30 here and there for childcare is not the end of the world, when thousands of people are potentially going to be so much worse off.

ooops that seemed to be a bit of a rant....

I'm doing the same as GlitterKitty, I have some of my friends kids coming over for the day as I will be on strike. I'm glad you are sorted OP, I can appreciate how much £30 is when you haven't got it!

Can I also point out that I am going to struggle with losing a day's pay myself, especially so close to Christmas. I have never gone out on strike in 10 years of working in the public sector, it's not something I'm doing lightly at all. I work for a body that is self financing, so my pension takes no money from the tax payer. Convenient that the media fails to mention us when they are whipping up hysteria about gold plated pensions.

Their life may be the harder course I see, but on the other hand, mine is happening to me - Philip Larkin

"Reading your post I wonder if these strikes will actually work to the benefit of government ideology - making it difficult for women with children to work and getting sacked/finding it harder to find work. Because it still usually is the women who are impacted when schools are not open."

Absolutely SQ

I am also so angry at "free childcare" comment. Idiotic comment.

glittykitty and cwtchy you are marvellous

its frightening for you especially when your on a low income its hard but i dont think the teachers take it lightly going on strike. although it does piss me of when teachers go on about not taken your child out in term time has it will affect the childs education then they can have a day of when they want to.

Surely all those who are striking will be on the picket line so how come you are offering to mind other peoples kids?

The thing is, the strike is meant to be disruptive and expensive for parents/users of the services striking, that's the whole point of withdrawing labour for a day, otherwise, why would anyone bother to pay attention to strikers?

The hope is people like you will be out of pocket/have childcare headaches and say to the Government "Don't care what it costs, give them what they want." As public sector workers aren't adding to anyone's profits, it's not like workers in a factory striking where the employer is the one that suffers by a loss of production for a day, public sector workers only can be effective in industrial action if they cause service users problems and they then put pressure on the workers' employers (government) to solve the dispute.

If everyone found easy childcare/alternative services were provided, then it would be completely ineffective and the only thing achieved would be to cost the strikers a day's pay.

OP - there will be more strikes in the new year. This one is set to run and run.

Our staff rep said only 6 people were allowed on the picket line at any one place.

Unless we all descend on London.
But I don't know if London Transport will be affected?

We dont yet know if the school is open - expect a letter tonight. If its not I expect to have 3 parents and 10 children in the house next Wednesday (Luckily I dont work Weds and the other 2 are SAHM) - I have biggest living room though hence here

Rubbish staff rep then as you dont have a quota for pickets.

If you are striking then you should be picketing.

Glad you got your child care sorted. 'you aren't really that low paid, are you?' ha ha pmsl at that comment. That is a classic. Clearly you can only complain about the inconvencience if you earn below a certain level....

oh and your ingratitude for 'free childcare'. ha ha ha!

No pickets at my work- there are about 2000 workers in my office- not room for us all outside the gate, especially with our kids in tow!

Its no skin of my nose to mind others kids- and more fun for DS than being home alone.

"Reading your post I wonder if these strikes will actually work to the benefit of government ideology - making it difficult for women with children to work and getting sacked/finding it harder to find work. Because it still usually is the women who are impacted when schools are not open."

Do you actually believe there's a load of Tory policy wonks sitting in Westminster trying to figure out how to fuck women's lives up for them, simply because they're women? What kind of strange, paranoid twaddle is that?

No of course not They would have to be pretty clever to have worked that chain of events out all the way though.

I do however think it is a useful side effect of the strike action, and might reduce the impact of the strikes on the government. Why would the government mind if women have to stay home from work and look after their children if that is where they think they should be in the first place?

Oh and if you think that tory policy types don't think about how to alter society to make it look more like the nuclear family man at work woman at home with the kids 1950s model then you are clearly unfamiliar with right-wing ideology.

It's true that some social conservatives do believe that the two-parent family with one SAHP is an ideal to be encouraged, yes. I'm sure there are a fair few MNers who would be quite happy if government policy supported SAHPs a bit more, too.

But if the Tories really believed in some blanket, indiscriminate way that women should just stay at home, why is Cameron talking about how it'd be a good idea if there were more women in board positions in business?

Off-topic, I know, but the picture is just a little bit more nuanced than perhaps you'd like to think.

Anyway. OP, YANBU. I can see that given the fact that you can't afford any kind of pension contributions yourself, being left out of pocket, so that others can strike in favour of better pensions than would be available to you if you could afford a pension at all, must be at least a bit galling.

We've also been told a maximum of 6 for the picket line.

The clue as to why he made that speech is in the article you linked manatee

"Cameron linked boardroom greed and the role of men the day after Tory women MPs visited Downing Street to discuss why the party was trailing among women voters."

I think there is some legislation about if there are more than 6 on a picket line , it may be intimidating, but I cba to look it up