Today we strike

[Perfect28]

Aibu to ask you to support all striking workers today? Please do, however you can.

Public sector payrises don't push up inflation as much as private sector do so you're incorrect there but these are the same public services that have been chronically underfunded for years and rely heavily on staff goodwill to get the work done (because they're sure as shit not relying on the decent pay and working conditions). DH works in the public sector and there are people in his office who, when they started, were earning a decent wage compared to NMW but are now basically earning NMW because their salaries have not kept pace. Alongside that opportunities for progression have decreased, threat of redundancy has risen, and workloads/responsibility have increased due to decreased staff numbers.

Even if these strikes were all about pay, which they aren't, I would still support them!

The real terms pay cut is awful. There are full time teachers who can't cover their bills. The recruitment and retention crisis it is causing is even worse.

The government and their current education and health policies are doing far more damage. Do you think anyone would be on strike if it wasn't their last resort?

Not really much i can do. Hope you all stay warm if you're out and about marching though.

@plumduck You can do more than you think. One tweet, FB post, MN comment, post in the comments section of a newspaper, comment to another parent at the school gates… it all helps.

@SherbetDips Do you blame the government at all who has been underfunding these services for years? They are the ones harming the patients, not the nurses and doctors working unpaid overtimes and asking for it to be recognised.

Can you explain why public sector pay raises don't increase inflation as much as private sector pay rises? I'd be interested to hear why. Also, public sector pensions pay way better than private sector.

"comment to another parent at the school gates"

Surely most people won't be at the school gates today?!

I also don't get why private sector wages pushes up inflation by public sector don't?

100% support all strike action. Ex primary school teacher. Got out last year after 20 years. I worked in a amazing and supportive school but I couldn't do it any longer.

Same.

@EatYourVegetables maybe she could make a comment to another parent at the school gates tomorrow! Or maybe her child's class/ year group is open today in a partially closed school.

Not too hard to get around that was it.

I mean, it doesn't mean I don't support the strikes. But I was quite miffed at being told I shouldn't get a payrise to prevent inflation. I've not had a non-promotional pay rise that's been anywhere near inflation for YEARs. I suspect that if all these strikes are sucessful, lots of private sector works will become a lot more vocal, because they key private sector advantage behind private vs public sector choice is the wages, and that will slowly be erroded. Although of course the economy is failing, so perhaps we will all be out of work anyway!

That's, by the way, not saying I don't think that public sector workers, or teachers, shouldn't be paid more, they absolutely should. But it's just noting that the private sector isn't some nirvana for inflation+ payrises every single year either.

I’m on strike! Power to the People! Up the Workers!

Why pretend its not about pay when thats the whole point of the poster?

I’m definitely not virtue signalling but when the ambulance drivers were striking I dropped off a box of chocolates for them and they said it meant such a lot that someone had showed they cared and supported them - it clearly wasn’t about the chocolate as such . What was sad was that when I pulled into their small car park near the picket line I could see the looks of apprehension on the strikers’ s faces as though they expected me to harangue them.

And private sector pensions are awful. Add to that low morale, risk of redundancy, statutory sick pay etc. and I do find it hard to support the pay demands of public sector workers while in many cases private sector workers are paid and treated even worse. But because employers are smaller and employees are scared of being fired or made redundant you don't hear about it as much. Also, very few unions in private sector to support workers.

Great! Because there are loooooads of teacher and nurse jobs that haven’t been filled. Come and get one. It’s well cushy over here

Real terms pay for primary teachers in England vs other OECD countries. This is why there's a strike today.

I was saying this to DH the other day. In more left leaning countries unions exist for private sector workers too and they actively support their members. I was surprised there wasn't a union to join when I first came to work in the UK.

That said, it's not a race to the bottom. But we should care about generally protecting workers rights (which are currently in the process of being eroded due to the removal of employee protection under EU laws), as well as supporting public sector strikes.

So the government gives in, every other public organisation goes for the same. Country already trillions in debt, who will pay for this? No one else has had an above inflation pay rise so why teachers? Everyone does a days work, often in worse conditions than teachers with about 12 weeks off a year…

No I don't support strike action.

I would never strike and I think less of people who do. If you're not happy in your job go and get another one.

Nope. Don’t support any of them. They’re all selfish.

If you don’t like your pay/working conditions then find a job that suits you better.

No one reads my twitter. MN seem very clued up on it already. I'm not going to a random school gate to comment. I don't even have kids at school. And no one uses Facebook any more.

😂at the idea of just rocking up at a random school and telling random parents (who presumably aren't there either?) you think the strikes are great!

@SherbetDips you are the selfish one and you've just broadcast that to MN