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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

Really want to strike but really cannot afford to.

165 replies

toptramp · 28/11/2011 22:34

Anyone else in a similar position? I am a trained teacher but woprk as support staff atm so really on peanuts as it is. Plus I am a single mum who is mindful that Christmas and subsequent expense is looming.

School isn't open to students on Wednesday. If I sign in and out I get paid; if I don't sign in and out I don't. I agree with the strike but I'm skint. WWYD? Am I letting the side down if I go in? I know some staff who are turning up. OOOOOOOO moral dilemma.

OP posts:
uniCorny · 28/11/2011 23:52

I'm just being nosy
I'll be striking anyway.

AnyFucker · 28/11/2011 23:52

you just don't understand what you are talking about, OldMac, really I can see it now

66% turn out for a professional union is unprecedented believe me

educate yourself, or have another go when you are sober

Original poster
toptramp · 28/11/2011 23:55

I think that the strike is best for long term but obviously a pita immediately. Part of me thinks we should all get our noses to the grindstone though as we are in a recession. (although not if we are being shafted left, right and centre.)

OP posts:
AnyFucker · 28/11/2011 23:56

LD I believe that further concessions will be made by the Govt

it's the game they play

they know how far they are prepared to negotiate already

what they hadn't banked on is how strong the feeling is that enough is enough

and now we have been pushed this far, they have to save face by calling us irresponsible and attempting to discredit us by subtle and unsubtle means

don't believe all you read in the newspapers, or is spouted by Danny Alexander

most if it is false/spin doctored

if you don't understand that, we are all fucked

LemonDifficult · 28/11/2011 23:59

TT, your point about you not being paid is actually taking money out of the local economy is a good one.

f2d is right: you pay the union to work for you, and if this isn't working don't bow to peer pressure.

(And OMG how much peer pressure is there?! It's shocking).

noblegiraffe · 29/11/2011 00:03

Dear god Lemon, of course there is pressure to act collectively. It's a union. That's what union means.

chocfrenzy · 29/11/2011 00:03

OP in order for me to get a job I have paid for full time child care for over a year, because otherwise I would have lost my place and also I would not be ready and able to take up employment immediately if it was offered.

I have not claimed unemployment benefit. I have worked hard all my life and it was truly debilitating being unemployed.

I have used all my savings to fund my job search.

It has been incredibly difficult but after months and months of trying I have a job. I did take low paid contract work where I could in the interim.

I am degree educated - I am thrilled at getting a job but my pension is 1 percent of my earnings, that is right 1 percent.

I am earning a lot less than I was a couple of years ago too but I am so happy to have a job. But I am not going to be able to save for a pension over the next few years.

If I were you I would be striking and I would see it as an investment in my future.

You are not going to lose your job over it.

AnyFucker - the erosion to Unfair dismissal is going to harm women who have had children massively. The 1 year rule stopped some employers from getting rid of children during or after pregnancy. It really is bad news for women.

LemonDifficult · 29/11/2011 00:04

AF - I love the idea that if LemonDifficult doesn't understand something then 'we're all fucked'!

However, I'm interested in what's 'read in the newspapers, or is spouted by Danny Alexander' or that 'most if it is false/spin doctored'.

Whilst this seems a bit lame - a bit of a studenty take - I am interested that you have formed such strong opinions presumably based on the media. Or do you have a secret source of information I can access to enlighten me?

LemonDifficult · 29/11/2011 00:05

'Dear god Lemon, of course there is pressure to act collectively. It's a union. That's what union means.'

What - pay us and we'll bully you?!

No, a union should be their to support the individuals, not browbeat them into collectivism by bullying.

AnyFucker · 29/11/2011 00:05

There is no peer pressure from me, if you are inferring that, LD

or do you think the bald facts should not be stated for fear of hurting people feelings ?

head in sand approach will never work here

be clear in your decision, I have no problem with that

but be quite sure you understand the wider consequences of not striking, if that is what you decide

chocfrenzy · 29/11/2011 00:05

Oh and by the way my DH is using his last day's holiday for the year to be off work for the strike. It has been a tough year for us but we just get on with it.

He will get paid because he will use a holiday day.

I just wondered OP if you had holidays? Do you get paid holidays? I presume so?

AnyFucker · 29/11/2011 00:07

where is the bullying LD ?

Op is feeling conflicted

she has been given understanding here, on her thread

I will not sugar coat my opinion however...although if you look with true sight none of it is directed at her personally

unlike some I could mention on this thread

AnyFucker · 29/11/2011 00:08

choc in many places, you are not allowed to take the day off as AL

FontSnob · 29/11/2011 00:08

The thing is Lemon, as I said already, how much money do you think is going to be taken out of the economy once employee contributions go up, after the pay freeze, and the freeze on pay increments?

FontSnob · 29/11/2011 00:09

AF is right, the govt know exactly how far they are willing to go, they are bartering.

noblegiraffe · 29/11/2011 00:10

"What - pay us and we'll bully you?!"

FFS no. Become a member of a union and because there are lots of us we can collectively bargain better rights with our employers. The reason we can collectively bargain better rights with our employers is because if they aren't reasonable, we can call upon our members to take joint action.

If the unions can't call on their members to act, then they're just a big club of disgruntled people having a moan and why on earth should the employers take any notice of them?

AnyFucker · 29/11/2011 00:11

choc many of these decisions, including the pensions ones are massively harming to women

but wile we all fight among ourselves, it slips by un-noticed

a change from final salary to average earnings reckoning ?

a huge financial loss to women who take time out for maternity leave and to work PT while children are small

grovel · 29/11/2011 00:11

Go to work.

AnyFucker · 29/11/2011 00:12

I actually don't understand why that particular nugget hasn't been taken to the Court of Human Rights on grounds of sex discrimination, but there ya go...

we were looking the other way, again

AnyFucker · 29/11/2011 00:14

not grovel's nugget of wisdom, obvs

FontSnob · 29/11/2011 00:15

And all the figures, 770 billion unfunded pensions etc that are going around. According to the public sector pension commission (based on robust estimates as the govt won't hand over the exact figures) state that:

The cost to tax payers in 2009-2010 for public sector pensions was £15.6 billion, £3.06 billion contributed by the treasury (who have borrowed from the pension fund oin the past).

The spending on bank bailouts in 3 years was £456.33bn.

Don't tell me that a better deal can't be worked out than the one that they are offering and don't put the blame on the selfish greedy public sector, because THAT is the bullshit.

noblegiraffe · 29/11/2011 00:15

BTW I don't feel that people should put themselves into penury to strike and I sympathise with the position of the OP. This is why unions have hardship funds, to help people who can't afford to, to strike. If that isn't enough money for some people, then at least the unions have recognised that it's a problem and tried to help.

But to have people going 'I pay my subs, I don't see why I should even consider abiding by the majority decision' in a union is exceptionally annoying.

FontSnob · 29/11/2011 00:17

Sorry, that should read that the £15.6 billion comes from employer contributions.

That is where the deal is to be made. The rest is the governemt making money to plug their hole.

LemonDifficult · 29/11/2011 00:18

It's a union, not a government. You make it sound like God's Law.

Really, there is NO obligation to do what a union tells you. None. Free agent. Just pay your subs. Really. It's amazing.

noblegiraffe · 29/11/2011 00:18

"a huge financial loss to women who take time out for maternity leave and to work PT while children are small"

That'll be me. I used the government's pension calculator to calculate that it will take me the next 23 years to accumulate the same amount of pension that I accumulated in 11 years under the old scheme.

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