For all those who support the strikes

[chopc]

Where do you think the money will come from for all the pay rises? Are you personally willing to pay more tax?
We all saw during the pandemic it is the poorly paid essential workers that kept the country going and they totally deserve more money than the claps they got. However will YOU be prepared to contribute to the pot ?

If not where do you think the govn will find more money from?

Yes, I would absolutely be prepared to pay more tax.

I have marched in support of teachers more than once and happy they got 6% but now is surely not the time for pay rises across the board.

Our mortgage is set to rise by £800 next year. Further inflation and the effect on interest rates is a terrifying prospect. It's not just the payrises that will bite - it's the billions in increased pension contributions. We can't afford the debt right now. I'm genuinely worried about it. It's a horrible state to be in and public services absolutely deserve a pay rise but I privately hope they don't get one. I'd never vote Tory and think what they've done to public services is appalling but in this instance am glad of their fiscal responsibility.

I’ve been reading through a lot and just wanted to thank OP @chopc for starting what I’ve found a really interesting and lively thread!

RIP your notification’s though!

Unfortunately, the Tories used the excuse of “fiscal responsibility” when they ran everything down. Now it’s the reason to wreck it completely. The longer this crisis goes on, the more expensive the fix becomes, not because of inflation, but because of the harm caused by decades of rewarding the wrong behaviour and exacerbating societal problems by ramping up inefficiency and unproductivity through the bizarre belief that the worse you treat people, the better they perform (unless they are hedge fund managers, CEOs, investment bankers or MPs, of course).

Business models have become parasitic - focused on getting as much out of people as possible and giving as little as possible back, whether they be employees or customers, and Tory policy reflects this. This is not efficiency, it’s inhumanity. The result is an ever diminishing number of people who profit from this behaviour until, ultimately, those people will realise they have nothing left that they can do but count their money, because they have sucked everything else dry.

It's interesting to note, unmanned rail services/maintenance are being adopted in other countries successfully.
Then to post the UK pop wouldn't know how to operate a ticket machine.🙄😂
Quasi-private healthcare also works well in other countries. The EU is well aware of the ticking time bomb of an aging demographic. It's a big problem with serious repercussions.
The post relating Tories to business models is laughable, business models are studied/adopted globally. MBA tory approved course. I've not seen that offered yet via workplace training.😆
Oh, and money is not a finite resource. Sucking dry is impossible.🙄

@PrincessConstance - I promise you, the vast majority of the UK population would be confused by the ticket machines in train stations. I’ve stood behind enough of them.

I bought a train ticket the other day in which the small print stated I could not make my return journey between 3.49pm and 7.18pm 🤣🤣.

Oh, and then of course there are the train tickets where you are not allowed to travel direct to the destination, but are obliged to go via an intermediate station first. Obviously sooo simple, logical and efficient. 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣

Machine ticketing in countries where the fare system is transparent, straightforward and obvious (eg by km or in zoned) works well. In the Uk? Less so.

Oh, and I specifically didn’t say money was a finite resource, given that I noted that’s all they’ll have left to count when they’ve sucked everything else dry… Money, as we all now know, does actually grow on magic quantitative easing trees and is only unavailable when working people ask for it.

A change is as good as a rest as the Old Saying goes - as our version of democracy is divided between 2 political parties (both useless) it seems the Unions are doing what the Labour Party are currently unable to do (poss the Party should refund the Unions their subs).

So yes raise taxes to pay for it all but also revisit the economics and fiscal efficiency of each and every department including the T&Cs of employment that go along with baseline pay.

Carry on Striking, get in the flying pickets, tar and feather the blacklegs, self-implode the govt service you work for - I am truly beyond caring.

As for globally adopted business models - I didn’t actually say the UK is alone in the world in having issues with the modus operandi of global businesses. It’s a race to the bottom, and the UK is doing quite well in that race at the moment.

I agree that an ageing demographic (and an increasing number of working age people with chronic health issues and climate change and global instability) are a ticking time bomb, however. I also agree that the unions and Government facing off against each other are a bad thing - just like Brexit was a patently stupid thing - but if a country is so phenomenally badly led for so long and builds up colossal amounts of anger and resentment in its population, the result is seldom constructive.