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

Haven't had a pay rise, even inflation, in 11 years. My rent has more than doubled in that time. Civil service has been frozen forever.

be grateful to have a job actually No, I won’t be grateful for being remunerated for the arduous work I do

Am I aware I have stable employment, yes v much so
Grateful, no

I work in the private sector and I'm on minumum wage. Lots of people are struggling.

God some of the replies on here are depressing - some people are suffering so we should all suffer or be glad of what we have. NO! The pay for NHS staff is utterly shit and should be increased. If everyone earning more than them (which includes me, before anyone asks) needs to pay more tax to fund that then so be it. Frankly though, the government could start by collecting on its unpaid corporate taxes and taxing the very rich more.

TBH I find this obsession with money and pay rises (or not) in the midst of a pandemic rather grubby and distasteful - surely lives matter more than money.

The focus should be on safeguarding the lives of the elderly and vulnerable and not whether or not you get a pay rise.

@StoneofDestiny

Yes bananaPop2020 - it's a job I couldn't even think of doing. Working in a maximum security YOI or Prison means you have your personal safety on the line every single day, and must remain on 'high alert' with eyes and ears swivelling around you! No down time at all.

I always feel they are the forgotten service - every thug, murderer, rapist etc we want off our streets, ends up being in the care of somebody else's son or daughter for sod all recognition. You barely hear them mentioned at all. Thank god there is somebody doing that job to keep us safe - but they are seriously under appreciated.

Thank you for this. My husband is an officer, he regularly worked 60 hours a week from March until May to cover shortages. Two of his colleagues died and several were in the ICU, and many prisoners died too. The cases were increasing in prisons again last month with a huge amount of staff isolating. They transport Covid prisoners to hospital handcuffed to them in taxi or minibuses with minimal PPE, not to mention deal with people who are locked up for 23 hours a day and haven't seen family for months, so tensions are higher than usual. The starting salary for a prison officer is about £23k.

Yes @1dayatatime dont be grubby about fripperies like money
When one is in the supermarket chant an Incantation about safeguarding the lives of the elderly and vulnerable see if that pays for the groceries
When asked to settle a bill, wail I’m too busy safeguarding

Note that solely due to tax/NI changes, someone earning £25,000 in 2010-2011 took home £19,176. Someone earning £25,000 in 2020-21 will take home £20,640.

I’ve just got a graduate job starting with the police at £21,000 and I’m ecstatic. It’s so hard to get a decent job after uni these days!

• I’m saying this as someone who will be the household main earner with a toddler and rent + bills

No one is getting a pay rise. Work for a massive supermarket who have probably made more money than usual but apparently can't afford to give their staff a pay rise.
It's shit for people who've worked hard but it's not a normal time.
Personally I think it's right that nurses are getting a rise above anyone else, although IMO they should be getting more anyway.

Yes, we're underpaid, no our jobs aren't sfe, redundancies have already been announced so its shit all round.

It is shit and they deserve an increase but it’s been shit for lots of people sadly, we will all be dealing with the cost and unfairness of all this for a long time x

Care Assistants are working for minimum wage and are dealing with covid residents. They should get a pay rise but wont

Yes I think it’s another example of taking from poorer people and from the middle and never from the richest.

@1dayatatime

TBH I find this obsession with money and pay rises (or not) in the midst of a pandemic rather grubby and distasteful - surely lives matter more than money.

The focus should be on safeguarding the lives of the elderly and vulnerable and not whether or not you get a pay rise.

Are you well paid ? Do you work in a care home where the staff are on minimum wage and go to work dreading the next Covid news?

@jcyclops

That depends upon their minimum pension costs. I am on less now, ignoring inflation, than in 2009.

Difference between public sector and private not getting a pay rise this year is that public sector also haven’t had one for many years.

@SentientAndCognisant
be grateful to have a job actually No, I won’t be grateful for being remunerated for the arduous work I do

You obviously don't know what it means to be unemployed, relying on benefits to keep your DC fed, knowing that there won't be enough money to pay for your home (we have a mortgage which is not covered...). With 100's of applicants for every job even though most are just over min wage, manual shift work. Both DH and me have been made redundant thanx to covid. And still no employment thanx to covid.

So yeh runt about the arduous work you do and the pay you receive, for your stable employment. You really don't know any better. (And I hope you never find out, because them you would really be grateful for the years of stability you currently enjoy.)

Really? I grew up poor in council estate, I get poor.Via my work I see,meet,visit poor.
I am not grateful to be paid for the work i do,inc the extra hours is unpaid
Your falsely attacking me, I’m not having a go at you
But I refuse to feel grateful for being salaried for the work I do. It’s a falsehood to try get traction out of my employment

I haven't RTFT, but.

YANBU. Entry level police officers join the police with the promise their salary will go up incrementally each year. This won't happen now and they have the right to be fucked off.

But haven’t you heard? Nurses should be grateful!

It’s a false dichotomy to tell public sector staff to pipe down and be grateful Because other people are unfortunately suffering

@JorisBonson you make an excellent point. I would love to join the Police, but I just cannot afford to.

It’s interesting that all these middle class jobs are being mentioned now their salaries are frozen yet nobody has batted an eyelid over the blue collar manual jobs that have been suffering so badly for the last 20 years yet keep our country running, particularly during the crisis. HGV drivers for example have seen their salaries destroyed over the last 20 years. Now there is a shortage of drivers it has started to rise again slowly. Nevertheless, despite promises from the transport secretary about conditions they are the worse they’ve ever been with fewer safe places to stop for mandatory breaks than there were 5 years ago and despite a huge increase in demand during the pandemic, their very basic human needs have been completely ignored.
Toilets in garages and public toilets were shut and shops refused entry. Drivers have literally had to defecate on the side of the road for this past year.

But they are working class and as the media, arts and politics only contain the voices of the middle classes these days so nobody cares. If they stop delivering food and medicine though, then people might notice.