Disgusting

[StoneofDestiny]

AIBU to think it's disgusting that the pay of Nurses, Prison Officers, police, Teachers and other public service workers who have kept us safe despite the risk to themselves throughout this Covid year are the ones that get their pay frozen

Public sector/ NHS Jobs aren’t always safe. I’m NHS and there was loads of consultations/redundancies and job restructuring when my trust was in financial trouble years ago.

My partner is council, he has been restructured, job evaluated and moved teams countless times in 15 years. Every year the budget shrinks and people lose their jobs.

While we were in pay freezes for years they found money for MP pay rises every year didn’t they!

It’s not just doctors and nurses that are frontline either: physios, dieticians, porters, domestics, admin, radiographers, HCAs, pharmacists, labs, catering staff to name a few. So many have a vital role to play in one patients journey, even those you may not see. The NHS is a team effort.

I don’t think anyone in public service expects crazy pay rises either. I certainly don’t but the recognition is so important especially in a year like this one, so much money is found for other things.

@yellowcatss if we are talking about take home pay it's absolutely true. Teachers were in a similar place in Scotland until the pay deal that was awarded last year. Some colleagues were several thousand a year worse off in terms of net pay as a result of years of no/below inflation increases combined with massively increased pension contributions and increased NI contributions. And whilst we did get a decent pay deal last year, it still hasn't quite restored pay to the levels of 15 years ago due to those years of freezes.

Does it include MPs?

From a teaching perspective: There's a misconception in the media that the pay increase earlier in the year was a kind of covid bonus.
It wasn't - it's an annual increase to keep salaries in line with cost of living. Salaries still aren't in line with cost of living and are in fact years behind.
Of course I think all of these jobs should have a payrise but I think teachers pay has been held down for so long that this is hard to take. Many schools can't afford the % increase recommended so have been giving the minimum % for years meaning they're way behind what the pay scales available online say. As a 'profession' I think teachers are grossly underpaid compared to other professions. This would have happened to teachers anyway - they're just using covid as an excuse.

Every teacher I know either worked from Home doing a couple of hours a day or were pretty much furloughed - none worked unpaid/over time so I don't think you can apply the exemption to all teachers.

Pull the other one, it's got bells on. A lot of schools didn't have the gear/tech for remote learning at the start- so there certainly were frustratingly unproductive days but I don't see how you could know any teacher in a hot zone who isn't fucking close to breaking point.

Some of us worked unpaid all summer to get procedures in place. All of us worked from home and all of use have worked overtime to teach during the day and provide work for isolating kids at night. The additional workload created to try to keep schools safe is enormous.

@yellowcatss you think benefits should be cut when they are disgustingly low already?

I worked in the private sector, furloughed and then made redundant.

Would love to be working even without a pay necessary.

@musicalfrog

I think everyone would have kept working if they had the choice.

Public sector workers will still have their jobs in the next few years and beyond. Private sector is not so safe.

Really? Our local council just made 230 people redundant, and there are expected to be 100's more before the end of the financial year. Those people won't have their jobs in the next few years and beyond! The council had to find cuts of £118 million but they are still supposed to collect the bins, run the schools, look after the vulnerable and everything else. I suppose the MPs will lead by example though. That'll be poor Boris still struggling with nursery fees.

We're not all in this together. The rich are still getting richer.

im calling bs on I pick up less money now than 12 years ago this cant be true

Why? When you adjust for inflation the drop for teachers is enormous.

[quote Aurorie11]@yellowcatss not going to share my payslips but every year pay rise has been nil or 1% since 2008 massive increase in pension increases as scheme was changed with no choice and contribution rate much higher. I can assure you take home has dropped.[/quote]
so i was right then you have received more money as you admit you have had 1 percent pay rises some years. just a higher proportion went to a pension which is still your money i think saying you pick up less money because of it is highly misleading.

I'm in two minds about this when I heard on the news earlier,

Yes they have worked hard during the pandemic and we are very grateful to them BUT thousands of people are now without jobs, and had pay cuts.
We are all in this together and if we are still earning, we should be grateful.

What on earth did people expect?

You shut down the revenue producing economy, you're going to have a lot less money for public spending. Even if we bounce back relatively quickly, we’ll be decades paying back what we’ve borrowed.

Surely it was obvious this was on the cards?

Another public sector worker that was frozen, regraded, told be thankful you've actually got some form of a job, had the duties of colleagues that were made redundant dumped on me etc etc. Since April (when we were actually given 3.5% increase) my salary has finally got back to the figure it was in 2008. Of course inflation and increased living costs mean thats less in real terms.
So I can completely believe it yellowcatts - not sure why you think it's particularly unusual or unbelievable.

@Thewithesarehere

Does it include MPs?

I may start to believe we're all in it together if they are. Doubt it though.

Completly agree and I am not in any of these jobs

I think the pay freeze was inevitable. I would like to see it include MP's though.

Can I just ask as this always confuses me. When people talk about no pay rises is this every teacher / prison officer etc or just the few that are at the top of their pay scale?

@StoneofDestiny good to see you feel the same as me about Prison and HMPPS staff. It is a disgrace.

[quote Waxonwaxoff0]@yellowcatss you think benefits should be cut when they are disgustingly low already?[/quote]
23,000 pounds a year is what someone can claim in benefits i dont call that disgusting low or to put it another way over 62 hours a week on minimum wage but my main point is its fundamentally unequal some people get a hell of a lot from benefits whereas others get absolutely nothing but pay tax!

NHS workers are exempted from pay freeze.
It will affect local authority workers,prisons,police,military,teachers,civil service
And it’s appalling

Support staff in schools are paid peanuts. I am earning what I was earning over a decade ago.

@Waxonwaxoff0 genuinely that has not been my experience working with people on benefits, if they're lucky they have somewhere to live via social housing therefore maybe you are counting this as income? but esa is about £78 a week, not much at all.

Everyone supported the furlough scheme (including me). It has to be paid back. No-one will be better off. There will be plenty of pay freezes in private sector too.

@yellowcatss the amount of benefits you get is in proportion to your rent cost. No one gets a "hell of a lot" on benefits once the rent is paid, I'm going to presume you've never been on them so you have no idea.