Would you vote Conservative if you work in the Public Sector? Really?

[Ineedsomesleep]

According to David Cameron I am a faceless bureaucrat and he is going to either freeze my pay or get rid of my job.

It doesn't seem much of a motivation for me to vote for him.

So if you work in the Public Sector and are going to vote Conservative, come and tell me why.

I will not vote Tory, but work in public sector.
Obvioulsy we had no pay increase (I suppose nobody did). The departmental budget was cut back 5% for this year, and I think we are planning 10% decrease for the next financial year. As a minimum.

why wouldn't someone in the public sector, who, say, hated the thought of ID cards, 42 day detention and road-pricing (all civil liberties issues) vote Conservative?

If I was in the Police I would be fustrated with the amount of 'red tape' and would rather be out doing my job. I'd be worried if I was a pencil pusher I guess though.

surely targets, bureaucracy, managerialism etc would give you quite a lot of reasons not to vote Labour.

I too hate all those things but actually like my job. I think I work hard for a small wage and don't want David Cameron to either get rid of my job or cut my wages and pension.

because the Conservatives voted for ID cards in December 2004.

news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/politics/4093583.stm

They can't be trusted.

well if you're happy with the way things are you vote for the incumbent gov, if not you vote for someone else.

Your post assumes that a) only a Tory government would be looking to reduce the number of people employed in the public sector and b) the private sector is immune from job-cuts, pay-freezes and decreases in budget.

It's going to be a tough road ahead for all people in all manners of work, regardless of who wins the election.

Pencil Pusher, umm, that's sort of what David Cameron said. I work for HMCS, and its the pencil pushers who make sure that peoples fines are imposed and collected. Sex Offenders are put on the register and criminal records are updated on the PNC.

Think us Pencil Pushers do actually do some necessary stuff.

"Think us Pencil Pushers do actually do some necessary stuff."

yes of course, some of you do and some of you are excellent value for money. Now we all just have to hope to god that whoever gets in will cut the rubbish bits and save the good ones and not get it the wrong way round....

David Cameron is the only one who has not only said he will make cuts in the private sector but has actually been quite rude about Civil Servants.

And no I don't assume anything about future governments or the Private Sector. I worked in the Private Sector for many years and my DH still does.

Vesela is right too, the Conservaties did vote for ID cards.

Whoever gets in will have to cut public services
I work in the public sector and just want to know what is going to be cut, childrens centres or libraries or breakfast clubs or homeless shelters etc etc, we need to know - that's why a hung parliament will be crap because we'll have to wait ages for anything to be decided

because the Conservatives voted for ID cards in December 2004.

i know they did - part of the annoying thing about the poitics of that time was the parties gae nobd a choice in anything!.

but DC has come out against it (in a typical conservative way, objecting to the cost!). I can well believe a conservative govt wouldn't want to pay for it...

I used to work in NHS Medical Records (public sector?) There was 4 of us twiddling our thumbs up there - 1 of us could have done the job. My mum works as a manager. She has so many people working under her that do not need to be there. PAs and PA PAs, it's beyond a joke.

well I wouldnt vote conservative but to be fair alot of councils etc are already making pepole redundant - my husbands old job was one of them!

i also agree that either side elected, is going to make freezes and cuts. his affects the private sector to - many of my clients are public-sectore suppliers....none of them has expressed an electoral preference though - they see the financial reality as too big for any party to magic away just to fulfill an election promise.

Edinburgh council are making lots of cuts (especially education) but I am not sure if that is down to their own financial mismanagement or the recession.

Labour's Alastair Darling has said Labour cuts will be worse than Thatcher's cuts...so whoever wins will wield the axe. You're no safer with Labour than the rest of them.

In the past, I have worked in the NHS and for local councils. Not as front line staff, but as an evil manager. I'm very proud of my achievements in the NHS - I helped to save the hospital money and improve patient care. I was paid well, but felt that I earned every penny. (I'll gloss over my time in the council)

Having said that, there is no getting away from the fact that there is a lot of waste in the public sector. There was an abundance of people working for the same council as me, who by their own admission didn't have enough to do and couldn't find work in the private sector as well paid.

There is a lot of myths about 'pen pushers' spouted by the press and politicians, but many public sector workers are deluded about how bad their pay and conditions are.

As other have said, I wish the Parties would just have the balls to give more specific details of the inevitable cuts.

I have only just started working for the NHS and am shocked at how many days off sick people have (in the private sector you would lose your job), was shocked at being told pay would increase by 2% each year regardless of performance, am shocked at how many people there are swanning around having huge long meetings about crap that just really needs one person to make a sensible decision - am shocked at just how much money is wasted on crap that isn't needed. Money that could be spent elsewhere rather than on days out for admin staff to have special getting to know you workshops.

It is all crap and someone needs to take it in hand - so although I work for the public sector I am voting Tory - mind you I am not the main breadwinner in my family so I have that safety net.

Don't think I'm deluded. As I said, I have worked in the Private Sector for years so know exactly how my pay and conditions compare.

most of the private sector have had to suffer pay cuts/freezes/redundancies over the past year - why should the public sector be any different?

I worked in the public sector (research council) before ds was born and IMO a lot of those in the public sector have no idea how good they actually have it and how things work in the real world.

In the research councils for eg staff get 30 days holiday, final salary pension scheme, used to get flexi time (with the ability to acumulate hours and use them in addition to holiday). The research councils are merging now but instead of that saving staff they are actually recruiting more.

I don't think that the Public Sector should be any different, its just that DC has been so rude about all Civil Servants that I can't possibly see why any would vote for him.