I think we, Joe Public, have a responsibility to support strike action

[OverSharon]

listening to teachers say that better teacher funding will mean better quality education over time has made me ‘realise’ (shower thought epiphany) that’s true of everything.

if we support strike action, we support people being happier at work, instead of the public sector feeling like they are required to work for us whether they like it or not.

…my opinion: it’s actually all of us that are bearing the brunt of the cost of keeping inflation down. The physical and emotional cost. If we begrudge strike action, we continue to allow the government not to think of other ways to tackle inflation. If they can’t raise wages, lower our cost of living.

Why are they striking for better pay for a job they are all quitting?

The full yougov survery shows support for unions is rising.
There's also a poll covered in the Guardian that shows increasing support for nurses and ambulance workers striking.
Redfield & Wilton's poll shows twice as many people support strikes as the number that oppose them.
Another poll says support is high for workers who earn less than £50k.
Plus there was a survey covered in numerous places showing the majority supported striking by education and teaching staff.
46% blamed the government for NHS strike action. Only 17% blamed NHS staff.
44% blamed the government for the teachers' strike action. Only 23% blamed the unions.
The National Parent Forum of Scotland showed 87% of parents supported teacher's striking.

There are more. Lots more. But that's just a brief overview. As I said you need to consider who has commissioned the survey and where its published. That's why I've given quite a wide overview. The Tories made it quite clear they use polls to try to influence public opinion not to gauge it so the polls they commission are always slanted towards a particular outcome. Yougov often uses a self-selecting group of respondents which makes it less representative and arguably easier to skew. Not all surveys are equal - which is the point I made in my earlier post.

Surely Joe Bloggs have absolutely zero say or sway in strike action?

It's a personal choice as to whether you support it or not. You can't tell people how to feel.

(I 100% support strike action, for transparency)

A lot of economists totally reject the governments argument that pay rises will stoke inflation.

We need a wealth tax and to invest revenue gained into our public services through pay rises.

Forgive me... I think my understanding falls short here. See this is exactly the kind of thing I was hoping to find. I was under the impression that the private sector is responsible for itself, and the public sector for itself and so on. Now retail is something I have worked on and off for the past many years. And a couple of times, I was better off than my mum on a 40hr week. I was helping her with her planning! Working in the private sector made me feel valued. I would NEVER become a teacher. Or a nurse. I’d sooner wear a kick me sign shopping the way people treat workers these days.

I think things like this are trickier in difficult times. Right now EVERYONE is up against it. Even the "big" private sector earners. So they are looking at strikes thinking why on earth should I pay more taxes, for less public services, when I can barely pay my bills and the government is warning my private sector employer not to increase wages due to inflation, so that teachers can have a 12% pay rise. People will feel defensive and protective of their own interests. Couple this with the stress of covid lockdowns which school closures make feel all too close. It creates this defensive race to the bottom.

So yes, we should all support worker's rights, and the right to strike. For public sector as well and private. But I do understand why some people find it difficult to support in their particular circumstances.

(I say this as someone who supports striking in general, as well as this specific one.)

YANBU to support striking for better pay an conditions
YABU to support an above inflation pay rise

I can’t believe I’m really having to answer this, but:

Teachers went into teaching because they wanted to be teachers, the pay reflected the level of education/training/working hours/working conditions.

Then, wages stagnated and workload increased to the point they were working 10h/day instead of 6. And the working conditions got worse as budgets got cut, cut, cut.

Then people started leaving, which made those who stayed work more and more, with less and less resources. All while getting no more pay.

Those that are left are there because they have the same ideals they did when they went into teaching - to make a difference and all that jazz. Except they can’t. Because they don’t have time, or resources.

They have three choices:

1. stay and put up with it
2. leave
3. stay and campaign for change

if they do 1, then nothing changes, and over time more teachers quit, they are replaced by some poor bright eyed and bushy tailed newbie who will tolerate it for so long before becoming disillusioned. If they do 2, they are actively damaging the kids they want to help. So they do 3. And then parents are up in arms about that too - so we circle back round to choice 1 or 2.

What do you think they should do?

At this stage I don’t support any particular fix because I don’t understand the options. So I can say categorically that I do not support an above inflation pay rise! I can see why you may have thought so though. I guess people supporting strikers will be seen to be supporting ‘unreasonable’ fixes, but that’s certainly not what I’m after.

Increasing support for and saying who is to blame for the strikes, is very different to how many actually support the strikes. As per that Sky news article, support for went from 34-37%, still a considerable minority.

I do not support the strikes

I think this is insightful

That makes sense. I did assume you agreed with the pay rise. I have no idea what the solution is either, but there must surely be some bright people out there that can come up with something well thought out and sustainable.

I think the clever people right now are withholding their rage. There’s absolutely no point fighting as it will just delay the answer being found, and I believe the point is that there is currently no answer. The government isn’t saying no, they’re saying we don’t know. Things seem too complicated right now to know exactly what to be angry at. ‘Experts’ can’t agree across any field. Something has to give?

I’m actually pleased to see that it seems people are working towards that here! Surely it’s not outside the realms of possibility that ‘the answer’ can pop up on Mumsnet. Stranger things have happened… on Mumsnet 😂

I think people who strike are people who want to give their employer a chance before they quit. I think if this fails, people will quit in droves. We can’t chain public sector workers to their desks. THEN schools would be closed 🤣

In fact this makes so much sense… public sector workers are always trained to believe their job is their purpose. By quitting, they’re ‘giving up their purpose’. Fuck that guys, quit. You asked and nobody answered! Take that pension and run to the private sector 😂

When schools close and my kids are at home, I want to be angry at the government. Not the bloody teachers. They haven’t done anything wrong.

Do you want hyper - inflation like Argentina (over 90% last year). That's is what the government (and many many people are terrified of). I'm not supporting the strikes.

I think there are many, many problems in our public services that successive governments have failed to address. Schools are asked to do too much with too few resources, there is not enough support for children with ALN, there is colossal inefficiency causing duplication of work, many teachers are undereducated with just a one year PGCE and then on the job. Teachers are leaving because of high stress and overwork and not being able to give support to children they know need it. All governments do is mess around with curriculums, because that’s easy and civil servants ca do it at no extra cost, rather than do the hard and expensive work of addressing the serious structural failings.

Health etc have their own issues.

Fo all the unions are trying to make this about addressing retention, they are actually striking for pay. Teachers and health workers are actually not badly paid ( unless you are a TA or healthcare assistant or admin) and when you add in excellent pensions, they have a pretty good financial package. Increasing pay will not really address retention when people are leaving for all the other reasons.

So no, I don’t especially support the strikes. I’d support striking over all the other problems causing the crises in our public services, but not pay, no.

It's a hard one it was obvious when furlough was announced we would have debts and a recession how do you pay all those people to sit around doing nothing then a few months later give pay rises? I think there should be a pay freeze but MPs and top management should have it too.

If they can’t raise wages, lower our cost of living

You think the government can dictate your cost of living? Your tiny little island government is at the mercy of larger economic forces

The government of one of the largest economies in the world more like.

Of course they can, many governments do.

People on furlough May have been sitting around doing nothing, but teachers weren’t on furlough, they were working with no ppe or no social distancing in place.

Brilliant! 😂