To think strikes won’t achieve anything in the UK

[Sunshineseabeach]

What are people opinions; In my opinion education and health will eventually become private and the gap between rich and poor will become bigger

If I worked in the private sector, and my wage was too low, I would move jobs and likely gain a significant pay rise that way- I know because I did it in my previous career. That's not possible in (state school) teaching or nursing, usually. So instead you see people move to the private sector or internationally, or to a different profession altogether.

Do you not think having nurses, paramedics, doctors, firefighters, teachers etc benefits all of society?

I wouldn't trust a spokesperson from Unite any more than a spokesperson for the government. Vested interest.

@Postapocalypticcowgirl of course, which is why I want to see a compromise by both sides.

I'm already fed up of strikes.
People are DYING, for Heaven's sake. Before I get jumped on, I know that's not the nurses' fault, if there are no face to face GP appts available or no ambulances to go to people if they are all parked up outside hospitals.
It IS broken.
Personally, I'd like to see interviews with those affected - nurses, train personnel, teachers etc, & get the REAL stories. How much ARE you on per year? IS it the wages or the situation, eg driver-only trains, which I would think no-one wants.. at the moment we seem to get only Govt or union responses..

😀 just generally but yes I’ll probably stay even if it gets worse. I’ll just have to zone it out more.

Re unions they are fairly relentless in using stats to their advantage. More or Less did a good piece on wage rises this week assessing the weakness of RPI and top pay only giving misleading figures.

I wouldn't trust a spokesperson from Unite any more than a spokesperson for the government. Vested interest.

Right, so you don't trust the government when they say that they have been negotiating pay with the unions then?

I agree, I don't think they have.

Google can tell you how much all these professions earn.

I’m a teacher and my salary (fte) is about £42k. Pro rata (21h) my salary is £25k, but I actually work around 30h per week.

Based on a FTE of working 195 days per year, plus 40 days paid holiday (so 235 paid days/year) we earn £178/day, which if we assume the 35 working hours we are paid for is divided equally over 5 working days (7 hours per day) is about £25/hour.

To be paid at £25/hour for the 30h I actually work, my salary should be £39k.

The unions are asking for 10%, which would bring my salary from £25k to £27.5k.

So on paper I’m paid £25/hour, for 21 hours, which is 0.6 of a FTE. I actually work around 30/week, which is 0.85 of a FTE. In real terms, this means I’m paid £18 per hour - my salary of £25k, divided between 0.85 of FTE working days (235 divided by 0.85 is 199 working days per year, which is £125/day, or £17.90 per hour, based on a normal 7 hour working day)

Id say my working hours are on the lower end of normal, others certainly work far more than me.

So you can see how domestic energy bill subsidies benefited people but you can't see how having a healthy and educated workforce is to the benefit of everyone?

Do you think that the NHS and state education are in good nick right now?

The important question isn't How much ARE you on per year? but 'can we find people to do the job for that money?

And the answer is no. So it's not enough.

It's not all about pay. There are strings attached. The latest "offer" includes a condition that means that rolling rosters (where you can predict which days you'll be working well in advance because the rest day pattern repeats over time) will be replaced with one made up as they go along. So the only way that you'll be able to book any appointments or make any social plans more than three days ahead will be by using annual leave. God knows how parents will be able to arrange childcare.

Given that she effectively said that "the government are liars", I think that we can take that as given anyway.

Certainly in the rail dispute, you had Grant Shapps pretending that it was nothing to do with him, even while "the Secretary of State" appeared some 2,500 times in the contracts.