AIBU Public sector workers generally

[Privatesectorworkers]

I’ve changed user names for this…..

I read a post today regarding public sector workers & how hard done by they feel. This instance its Teachers (just an example). I feel increasingly frustrated how these workers (general, not just teachers) harp on about how hard done by they are.

I appreciate it’s a hard job but you couldn’t get away with it in our sector.

I do also know that a lot of my hostility lies over being an unrecognised key worker during covid so perhaps this is tainting my view.

I don’t understand how much they get away with. In terms of absence, pay etc.

Some people work unfortunately in not so well paid, qualified positions (as I do) but there are other factors that keep me in my place of work. I am lucky to have good colleagues, work close to home etc.

Can they not just find some consolidation that they are in the career of their choosing, I would hope they wanted to have a positive impact in the education & enjoy the caring nature of this role?

I don’t understand what has changed so much AIBU?

I'll give you a proper answer when the three scars from a child's fingernails disappear from my cheek.

If you think teachers have it so good, re-train and be one.

Same here: we moved straight to homeworking, nobody was furloughed. DH worked in local government and was initially voluntarily seconded to deliver food parcels to vulnerable people who couldn’t get deliveries. What a bastard, eh?

And I worked an additional full day a week assessing bids for emergency funding to stop businesses in my sector failing in Covid. Unpaid, and with no time off in lieu.

All the furloughed I know are private sector or charity sector workers.

@Privatesectorworkers

Teachers weren't furloughed either. Maybe you could use your maths skills to go & be a maths teacher if you think it's easy 🤷🏻‍♀️

I agree to some extent that teachers seem to moan - but it is genuinely exhausting doing the equivalent of 5 hour long presentations one after the other to an audience who on the whole would prefer to be elsewhere. Then repeat every day Monday to Friday.

However lots of teachers are leaving & there's not enough people desperate to get into the profession. So I don't know what the future holds to be honest. I suppose the perceived benefits aren't good enough to entice people into the job. Clearly they're not quite as good as you think.

If I look at senior management's calenders now it's all: CG/LS catchup, DS/JB catchup etc etc. Its total bollocks. You couldn't even ask a quick question as it was "I'll put in a teams meeting" 🙄

Both my kids, and DDIL are public sector, as was DH for 35yrs. None of them were furloughed. DS2 was working in A&E, wearing out of date PPE, while he was treating one patient the elastic on his mask snapped because it had rotted while it had been stored for so long. At one point he was wearing a visor made out of acetate by the local school kids.

DDIL is also a nurse. Her mental health was shot after she saw and experienced during Covid. When they were 18 and set off for uni I don’t think any of them expected to be dealing with a pandemic within a year or two of graduation. Even the most experienced nurses and doctors found it incredibly difficult.

Teachers weren’t furloughed either. They weren’t sitting on the beaches or in the parks, they were expected to set lessons for children that a lot of parents ouldnt be bothered to do. Can you imagine the magnitude of the task of getting kids back up to speed when they’ve had the best part of a school year at home? I wouldn’t know where to start!

I’m sick to the back teeth of people moaning about public sector workers, if you think it’s so great why not join them? There’s a recruitment crisis in every sector and there’s a reason for that.

@converseandjeans
Exactly

@Privatesectorworkers did your DC progress to FE?

Not really sure what your point is here. Sort your own life out and let other people get on with theirs. As a teacher I worked through COVID too. Not complaining.

Labour always bang on about public sector workers because that's their thing but they need to be careful about alienating the very large swathe of poorly paid private sector workers who don't get increments, have piss poor stakeholder pensions and whose wage is often £17k less than a comparable wage was 20 years ago. At least within the public sector there are mechanisms for increases and the overall terms re leave and pension are much better at the lower end of the scale. What they really need to do is massively raise minimum wage.

That sounds awful. I’m so sorry. I also had a crap lockdown, not furloughed as was a freelancer. Op is giant gaping …….

@Privatesectorworkers

So please tell me what I get away with regarding absence and pay???
I'm a midwife, had zero sick this year. As for our pay over the past few decades, how it's been eroded. Don't get me started on that.

Your post comes across as very bitter. You admit yourself it is hostile and you weren't recognised as a key worker during covid. Good God do you think we all loved it and couldn't wait to get in there to expose ourselves to the pain, death and suffering we saw.

As for teachers they do a bloody hard job that I couldn't do in a million years. Of course they want to have a positive impact on education and they do care for their pupils futures and the future of education in this country.

Yes I am in a career of my choosing as are many teachers but it doesn't mean we have to accept the conditions that we work in without speaking up to better them.

I'm not surprised you've changed your username. Your post is ignorant and you literally have no idea what you are talking about. This is infact one of the most unreasonable posts I've ever seen on here.

Nowhere near as stressful. Also, no public sector workers were furloughed.

Lots of jobs in teaching if you think it’s so cool

Lockdown was tough as I was a bank nurse then (also kind of freelance), but in paediatrics. All our elective work stopped & kids A&E attendance plummeted. We were not furloughed, and we were not given paid work, just left destitute:(

So, you basically had a pretty cushy time of it compared to a lot of public sector workers, then?

During COVID, as a public sector worker (child protection social worker), I still had to work and go out and complete visits to homes. I was a single parent of 4, with my two youngest being 4 and 5 at the time. Don’t think myself or my colleagues got to ‘take it easy’

GCSEs were cancelled.

You sound like a Daily Mail reader.

I wouldn't advice my worst enemy to take a job in public sector 2024.

Me either

Public sector isn’t all it’s cracked up to be. Yes we have pensions (but not as good as they were a few years ago), yes we get sick pay but as a PP has pointed out if you have multiple episodes even just a day for completely genuine reasons you get put on a management plan, wages haven’t gone up in line with inflation, working through Covid was frankly horrific for many frontline staff.

Teaching has changed massively. A relative of mine has left (and gone back to) teaching a couple of times because they felt it was a calling, something they were passionate about but the politics, having to put so many extra hours in for planning, marking etc, being expected to stay for staff meetings, parents evenings etc just meant it became unfeasible for someone with a young child. She no longer teaches and so many teachers, nurses etc are leaving the professions - there has to be some reason for it

Couldn't get away with what? All the public sector workers I know worked from home or were seconded to other work during lockdown . They weren't allowed to be furloughed.
I work in the charity sector and we only furloughed people with jobs that couldn't be done from home, like charity shop workers.
Also to add, we stopped getting increments five years ago, no cost of living increases and no great pension. Sickness absence is heavily monitored and there is no paid overtime. I'm connected to the cause which is why I stay but don't see why that should stop me from moaning about it if that's alright with you!