Really want to strike but really cannot afford to.

[toptramp]

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.

I have to go to bed now too

All this is exhausting

Hunty, whilst I agree, it does also make me think of the miners an the hardship they went through. I do wonder how many of us have the balls for that now? ( not a dig by the way)

Hunty, your ex would be apparently unable to strike. Does he want to strike, or does he want to go in?

Gah, bad pun there. Lemon, who fucked up for that bailout to HAVE to happen though?

Night all.

You shouldn't feel bullied into striking. We're in the same boat - 4 of us being supported on one teacher's wage. It's not a bad wage, but we can't afford to lose a days pay. None of my husbands collegues are striking (except the science dept) at his school, despite belonging to the unions taking action.

My husband voted NO by return of post he was so against the strike. He voted to work to rule instead. Only 40% of his union bothered to respond to the ballot and of those 80% voted to strike. Not great at maths but thats around the mid 30 odd percentile of NASWT that want the strike.

For years he's paid his union subs on the off chance he needs them to fight his corner in an individual dispute. He carried on paying despite the fact that early in his career, they washed their hands of him when his head refused to acknowledge his degree or his Masters, which was from a top US university. He kept his subs going because he thought it better to be on the safe side. Teachers don't usually strike, especially his union, so it's not unreasonable of him to have joined thinking this was unlikely to happen.

People should do what they feel is right for them, not be swayed by some rhetoric about causes and moral obligation. You pay your dues to the union - it serves you, you do not serve it, otherwise you're labouring under yet another type of tyranny. You can think for yourselves - you're not a collective. Noone should be pressurising you to relinquish pay you can ill afford. If you support the strike and can afford to lose pay, go for it. If you do but can't, then you should weigh up your priorities. If you don't support the strike but pay your dues for other union services, then hold your head high and go with the courage of your convictions.

We went into teaching (I'm a SAHM with small kids right now but have taught for 12 years until 3 years ago) because we loved our subjects and wanted to enthuse young people about them. We get a decent wage (not me, obviously, at the moment) and tremendous job satisfaction. Never for a minute did we ever think about what our pension was.

He wants to strike, but cannot get by on what Unison have offered him. So he is going into work. On the plus side, some of the patients will get fed more than just the sandwiches for all 3 meals that they would have been getting had ALL the kitchen staff gone on strike...

Thruaglass, you can't assume that those who didn't vote are voting no.

£12.50 is bloody ridiculous.

Gah. Must sleep.

Hunty - can't any local union members sub him till payday? I'm assuming that the problem is the messed up pay?

ilove sooty "I'd resent my union spending funds on them if they ask for support from that union at a later date if they run into workplace difficulties".

What? Even though they paid the monthly membership fees???? So the only thing a union is good for is strike action??? If so, I shall never join again.

Fontsnob - I assume those who aren't voting don't give a f**k either way. Or they'd vote. See my reasoning?

NOBLE "choc, but don't you also make a contribution? I'm not sure why you're only talking about employer contributions.

Google teacher's pension calculator"

1. So, if I used 23 years service on the teacher pension calc, and assume a 50K per annum salary then the annual yearly pension is £34,300 per annum. I don't know how much you put in and how much tax payers put in.

2. Under my private sector pension and again using 50K. I contribute 3 percent which is £34,500 my employer contributes 1 percent which is 11,500 so my TOTAL PENSION POT is £46,000. That's right - the total pension pot. That is not a yearly amount. So obviously I am going to have to make additional contributions to fund my retirement out of my income.

Notes:

1. I use 50K as an example as it is easy to work out and I kept
   the 50K earnings static across the example.

2. I also did not allow for breaks in employment across the 2 years as they will adversely impact women in the private and public sector who take time out for children.

3. What it does show for me is that you must be able to find the money somehow to strike for one day if you think of it logically.

4. Just compare the pension pots in the rough examples above. I won't be able to save to enhance my pension for a few years.

5. Thruaglassdarkly it is probably wise to think about your pension sooner, rather than later.

Note 2 should have readL

2. I also did not allow for breaks in employment across the 2 examples as they will adversely impact women in the private and public sector who take time out for children.

...anyway that's me done!

And because I really can not believe people feel that they can not afford to strike when they are striking about a really amazing pension scheme which I would be fighting for.

They can not afford NOT to strike.

Here is another example.

1. Under a private pension scheme to get the annual level of around 34K per annum would mean that you would have to have got a pension post of £500,000* together.

1. Here is another example - Let's say that your ideal retirement income is £20,000 a year.

Your fund size at retirement to do this would need to be £334000 *

*Both Figures based on an annuity of £6,000 (approx) per £100,000

1. Going back to my 46K pension pot - well it is going to give me £2.8 K per annum to retire on.

So as I say OP I do not think you can afford NOT to strike.

Wow Choc - I need to be less tired to process this. We did think about alternatives a few years ago to be fair and invested in property because we figured we'd be totally screwed in our twilight years. We're in our early (me) and late (DH) forties, so...

But will look at your stats tomorrow. Thanks:-)

Can I just say that it's great that this has turned out into a reasoned debate instead of a bit of a bitch fest. These sort of topics can be very inflammatory on MN and can quickly devolve into something none of us really want to be a part of. But all these discussions about the strikes have been very above board and respectful of the different pov. .

My mum is in Unison and voted not to strike, she has been with them for 40 years in a library job, so not highly paid. She wont be striking because she voted not to and genuinely believes that it will achieve nothing, she has seen it happen too often before.

Yay! Go Bogey's mum! She does what accords to her heart and not what accords to public pressure. A victory for critical thinking and not a mindless following of the masses!

I am the major wage earner for our family and we will struggle with me losing a days pay but this is about more than just a month. I suspect that if you can't afford to lose a days pay that you also can't afford the extra pension contributions they are asking for. I know I can't afford the extra. £100 a month I will have to pay in .

I think saying that teaching is a vocation and therefore we should not strike where personal gain is involved is naive and short sighted. Perhaps if we have a vocations we should offer to take a huge lay cut as well , afterall we are in it solely for the kids? You can have a sense of vocation yet still expect a decent level of renumeration. Why is it that it seems to be female dominated careers that are vocations?

If you are just "in it for the kids " perhaps consider that ink order to attract and keep the best people we need to offer a tempting wage/ pension package.

A union is a collective , the clue is in he name union. A union is not everyone doing there own thing but people working together for the greater good .

I think if you are in ATL it could be argued that you have a conscience clause , although tbh even then I think you have a nerve to take any improved offer which comes back from the government if you were not willing to make sacrifices yourself .

We can't afford the extra £45 per month contributions, plus they'll probably hammer our tax credits tomorrow. So we're gonna be looking at alternatives to pensions from here on upwards.

Yeah twinkly - you try being the sole wage earner and losing a day's pay. Humm...big difference.

I presume your comment was meant for me ButWhyIsTheGinGone. Actually, you're right I don't have any idea what it is like to have £3.50 left in the bank at the end of the month. Last month I had -£967.
I'm sorry, but saying that you have no money is no excuse for not standing up for your and your colleagues rights.

This debate about the teachers strike has been going on for months....Could you not of put a bit aside every month to cover the days pay?

What happens if the car breaks down ...how do you paid to get it fixed?

What happens if the children need £10 for a school trip?

I think you need to look at your outgoings and sort yourself out.