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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To think public sector workers

358 replies

firsttimemum77 · 17/05/2010 21:07

Are being 'punished' for mistakes made by bankers / previous government? I work for my LA and at the moment everything around making savings is centred around our jobs and salaries! People think we earn loads, get bonuses etc etc - I certainly don't and I work unsociable hours with no bonuses and a average wage which pays my mortgage and bills...

So AIBU to feel like this or do I deserve it because I work in the public sector!

OP posts:
compo · 17/05/2010 21:09

Yanbu

Hermya321 · 17/05/2010 21:12

Nope yanbu I'm sad to say.

Original poster
firsttimemum77 · 17/05/2010 21:13

Ahh thanks compo. Guess I am feeling a bit sorry for myself! I have always up until 5 years ago worked in the charity / voluntary sector. Very rewarding bit no job stability and I was made redundant. I applied for every job going and thankfully got the one I am in now with the LA and finally felt secure and now all this!

OP posts:
katycarr · 17/05/2010 21:13

There may be an element of that but I am sure too much money has been spent in the public sector and that money needs to be clawed back.

I have no objection to doing my bit and taking a pay cut if it is needed.

Haliborange · 17/05/2010 21:13

yanbu, but unfortunately we all have to share the pain.
I didn't cause the financial crisis either but have seen my income cut hugely which has been hard.

I think it would be a bit more bearable if it were clear that the bankers who did cause the problems were sharing the pain too. I'm not convinced at all that they are.

Aitch · 17/05/2010 21:15

it's really, really, really not just public service workers who are getting shafted. be grateful that you've got unions still, most of us haven't.

BeenBeta · 17/05/2010 21:16

There are some issues caused by bankers such as lending too much against property. Indeed, that is really the only issue behind the credit crunch. That credit crunch caused unemployement to increase and tax take to fall and that did cause a cyclical increase in the Govt deficits. However the bankers did not cause the long term structural Govt deficit which is the much bigger problem.

The long tem structural deficit was caused by the last Govt increasing the number of public sector workers and their average wage without collecting in the taxes to pay for it over a period of ten years.

The new Govt has no choice but collect more tax and cut the wage bill of the public sector to get rid of the structural deficit.

I do think the cuts should come at the top end though and not low paid front line staff.

MrsC2010 · 17/05/2010 21:16

YANBU

sanfairyann · 17/05/2010 21:16

how do you feel about the fact that bankers bonuses are back on target and back on track - pre-recession levels - katycarr? are they pulling their weight too?
this all smacks of dragging us all down to the lowest common denominator of the worst paid while the top 5% see their pay go stratospheric. I'm not happy about that at all.

minibmw2010 · 17/05/2010 21:16

I haven't had a payrise in 2 years and its very unlikely that I'll have one this year and I work in the private sector, so frankly I don't think its "just" public sector who are suffering

Trafficcone · 17/05/2010 21:17

Yeah. Iove hearing about the HUGE wages I supposedly earn!! £18k is a decent wage yes, but I do a skilled job and would be paid £25k for the same job in the private sector.

Original poster
firsttimemum77 · 17/05/2010 21:18

I don't mind taking a cut as long as I still have a job ofcourse! Just feel like public sector workers are getting the hardest hit! I may ofcourse be wrong - but I guess because I am in the public sector and working directly in the democratic unit I get to see all the 'confidential' efficiency savings reports so it's all too close to home iyswim... And yes haliborange it would be a bit more bearable if we could see the bankers sharing the pain too!

OP posts:
foureleven · 17/05/2010 21:18

Im sure in your own situation YANBU. But I used to work in the public sector and I had about 5 managers above me who's sole role it was to manage the managers above them.. It was ridiculous.

Pretty much every process was antiquated and time consuming.

They could have done away with half of the staff in my rather large office and got the same amount of work done..

Thats only one office I know, but it seems to me that there are indeed places where cuts can be made.

Thats not to say I dont feel sorry for those individuals it will affect.

katycarr · 17/05/2010 21:26

I am not happy about it sanfairy but as I said before I don't think it is all to do with bankers. I am no economist though. Just as much to blame are people who took out too much credit with no intention of paying it of - I call that theft personally. I also think that a lot of money has been spent in the public sector, our sectors gained in the good times and now we have to feel the pinch in the bad time.

Higher paid public sector workers on 30K plus may have to just take a small hit,

harpsichordcarrier · 17/05/2010 21:26

The size of the deficit is, in the main, due to the crisis of 2008, which required the government to bail out the banks and prop up the market/UK banking sector. There really was no alternative at the time imo.

sanfairyann · 17/05/2010 21:40

and all that money paid into the bankingsector to prop it up pretty much guaranteed healthy profits for all bankers not knocked out of the system - so all their nice bonuses are essentially paid for by us all.
until the banks are broken up and allowed to go bankrupt if they pull a fast one like that again , I'm in militant mood.

expatinscotland · 17/05/2010 21:45

We're all going to be penalised to pay for their mistakes and their continuing bonuses.

BAFE · 17/05/2010 21:45

in what way are you being punished

splodge2001 · 17/05/2010 21:58

Oi

Can't you lot understand that though the bankers have made a lot of money and totally fucked up, the more money they made the more tax they paid and therefore the more investment in public services there was - including the dramatic rise in both public sector pay and number of jobs.

Public sector pay rose dramatically during the Labour years and it is a fallacy that public sector pay is lower than private sector "Look business.timesonline.co.uk/tol/business/industry_sectors/public_sector/article6974029.ece"

Whilst most bankers are wankers at least they generate cash for the rest of us whereas the average public sector worker whinges if they have to stay beyond 5pm has a 'gold plated' final salary pension scheme which the rest of us have to pay for whilst receiving no pension from our private sector employers and PRODUCES NOTHING except hot air.

Sorry to be bitter but you could probably slash public sector admin staff by 90% put in a few trained monkeys and get a better job done.

Everyone in this country will have to contribute £32,000 towards public sector pensions, through the tax system whilst they themselves get fuck all. That is disgusting.

lisbey · 17/05/2010 22:05

I think you need to have had a private sector job before you can comment. Then you might know what it's like to really work for your "average wage that pays the mortgage and bills"

Most jobs in Banking etc also pay an average wage and costs have already been slashed several times over, people have been fearful for their jobs (and therefore working incredibly long hours for no extra pay) for 2 years already.

You might no get bonuses, but presumably you get paid for the hours you work? Private sector workers were "persuaded" to forgo over-time/hourly pay for the chance to earn a bonus years ago.

And the tax the bankers paid, paid all those public sectors wages for a long time...

katycarr · 17/05/2010 22:09

I have worked for the private sector thanks. My partner works for the private sector. I don't see why there has to be an endless private vs public debate.

AgentProvocateur · 17/05/2010 22:12
MilaMae · 17/05/2010 22:12

Sorry I think public sector workers have had it pretty cushy recently compared to private.They're only going through what everybody else in the private sector has already been through.

Pay freezes,redundancies etc are part and parcel of working life everywhere at the moment. Public sector workers also have unions and decent pensions unlike the rest of us.

So yes yabu but no you don't deserve it,none of us do.

sanfairyann · 17/05/2010 22:14

funny how this ends up setting poorly paid private sector workers against poorly paid public sector workers while the richest are sloping quietly off scene.

public sector pay when qualifications are taken into account(in general higher qualifications in public sector - think teachers, doctors, university professors etc) is not higher than salaries paid in private sector to similarly qualified staff (lawyers accountants) - oh yeah and once we've taken out the pay of RBS bankers and their bonuses of course - now they're public sector workers as well for the purposes of dodgy articles comparing public/private sector pay

katycarr · 17/05/2010 22:17

Well I had to leave a teaching job , in part because of the redundancies a few years ago. I also worked five days and took pay for 4, as did other colleagues. I think we are all in it together and should stick together rather than tearing each other apart.