I apologise for not reading every single ontribution over the last many pages.
I have just resigned from my union (losing part of my subscription) and transferred to one which is not holding a strike ballot, purely because I disagree with the idea of teachers striking over this issue.
How can I possibly look parents in the eye, parents who I know are unemployed or hold multiple casual or minimum wage jobs just to keep a roof over their heads let alone put anything away for retirement and say 'ah, yes, I know that I have a job and you don't, but I have to protect my pension, don't you know. Sorry, yes, I know that you having to miss a day of work to look after your children while I strike will give your employer another reason to make your employment even more precarious, but it's all about my future'??
Also, with a husband who has worked in the private sector throughout his working life, and with a background in the private sector myself, I know that the teachers' pension, even in its modified form, is an extraordinarily good, safe deal. My husband pays in a vastly higher percentage of his wages, only part of which is matched by his employer, and his final payout is linked to the performance of a stagnant stock market with no guarantees whatever. Yes, a minority of private sector pensions were gold plated in the past, but those have disappeared and for the vast majority, especially those who through necessity have changed jobs, the outlook is bleak and is much less certain than the teachers pension deal.
My husband and I have both assumed that we will work at least until 70. My dad still works at 73 and tbh appears a much younger, more sprightly and connected man than any of his contemporaries who have retired.