Public-sector strike: does it get your support? Please vote in our Facebook poll

[HelenMumsnet]

Morning.

We'd love to know how you feel about Wednesday's public-sector strike action. Does it get your support - or not?

We've put up a little poll on our Facebook page to help us find out. Please do click and vote.

Thanks v much, MNHQ

No I don't, there's a recession on and huge national debt, should we dig ourselves deeper into debt just so they ca have more in their retirement than the rest of us who work just as hard ?

No not supporting - member of Unison and not striking because:

• only 27% of members voted in the ballot and a fifth of them voted no
• negotiations are still ongoing so ridiculous to strike
• the service we provide helps those who are out of work so v hypocritical

to close the doors at the time we are needed the most

However DS has no school and I can't take annual leave due to strike action so thankfully DH (private sector) can use a days holiday entitlement.

I support it but I'n not on Facebook.

Our school is mostly open but the Heads have said in their letter "We understand the inconvenience"......but ....."demonstrates the depth of feeling and concern that public sector workers feel over this matter".

Good to see they are supporting their staff.

School is not childcare btw,a working parent should have a contingency plan for if a child is sick or there is an in service day or bad weather,no different with this strike imho.

Bodyofeeyore - so am I - it's the teacher's PENSIONS that are in the black, not the teachers!

that's what I don't understand - our pensions were reviewed recently and found to be completely self-supporting, we're not taking anything from the public purse (in fact i put in a minimum of 20 hours a week of free overtime on the publics' young people) we didn't cause this mess and we SHOULDN'T be asked to pay it back.

I have two degrees, an MA and a pgce, many of my fellow teachers are Drs... do we really think that scientists/maths etc phd's are even going to THINK about teaching when they can already earn about x8 the salary in the private sector if we cut the pay even MORE??!

And don't get me started on how important, and low paid, other sector workers are...

"Remember when Teachers, Civil Servants, Policemen, Ambulance staff, Nurses, Midwives, Doctors and Fireman crashed the stock market, wiped out banks, took billions in bonuses and paid no tax? No, me neither."

On ukuncut today.

I'm with you KK - teachers, nurses and many other low paid public workers are the backbone of our society.

Fair Pensions for All

Absolutely do support it.

In full support. Like many couples, my husband and I are both public sector workers and stand to lose £200 a month if the proposals go ahead. This £200 will not go towards our pensions. I don't mind working longer. In fact, will probably want to. I wouldn't mind paying a little more into the pot either. But this is amount is just too much and we simply can't afford it. I don't think we are being at all unreasonable here. It feels like yet another stealth tax on middle earners. As well as our own financial reasons for supporting the strike, we are also making a stand for all lower paid public or private sector workers whose pay and conditions are already appalling and are now watching their pensions diminish too. It's just unacceptable. I don't like how this has become a 'them' and 'us' argument either. I'm truly sorry that private sector workers have poor pensions too but that doesn't mean I have to lie down and take whatever crap (sorry) is thrown at me.

Glad some people are remembering the lower paid workers. I work in the public sector and some of our staff salaries are as low as £14,800 for a 40 hour/week. That doesn't go very far in the south east. People who talk about 'gold plated' pensions need to remember that many public sector workers are on pretty minimal pay.

Support. I will be striking.

Good article here about what the changes actually mean.

Thank you for remembering the lower paid workers. My pension will be £2000 if I'm lucky and it keeps getting further and further away! The fringe benefits loss,sick pay loss and always the threat of education job cuts hanging over us makes for jittery times

Yes, I support the strike.

Not on facebook but registering a no vote - I don't support the strike and my reasons seem too bleedin' obvious for me to bother explaining my reasons. Look at the world economy, population growth etc. and get real.

Full support & I am out.

I swear that despite the frequent postings about the earlier (07/08) pension reforms and the funds being in the black people are not listening.

THE NHS PENSION IS NOT IN DEFICIT!

My pension contribution was increased 08 ish to ensure there was no shortfall, I pay 6+ % of my monthly wage directly to my pension pot. My wage has been frozen for 3+ years, We are losing staff numbers because budget freeze means they are not being replaced so we are working with less staff in a highly demanding service. There are plenty of cuts at my work, plenty of red tape, hundreds of frustrating bite your tongue issues going on...but we keep going trying to provide the best service possible for our patients.

I am the main wage earner with two kids, a house and all the bills faced by every other member of the public. My purse is not loaded, I work pay to pay just like everone else. No fancy holidays, no new car, no designer gear, no credit card spending. Hardly a day goes past without us thinking about next months bills and hoping the gas isn't going to be too expensive or the ds school isn't going to need money for yet another...whatever! DH earns around £50 per week for 16 hours work which is a help but he can't earn more because we are stuck between his work, my work and needing someone for the kids.

My life as a public sector worker is not any easier than someone in the private sector. I have worked in both. My pension is not gold plated. But yes, I am lucky to have a pension. BUT I PAY INTO IT! depending on my wage I could pay £50 -£200 per month towards my pension.

I pay my taxes just like private sector workers. I provide towards both my public sector and Gvt pension from my wage.

The government wants to take an additional 3.2% off my wage each year...not for the pension fund...to repay the defecit!

They are taxing me, they are cutting my wage, they are lying to the public that I am a drain on the public purse.

They are doing what they do best SPIN! divide and conquor. public against private.

There is never a good time to strike but the government refused to talk...for months...this has been going on for over 8 months. The unions decided it was time for action....so did the workers!

The government have allowed private sector workers be screwed over by their employers...and guess what...they are still doing it...they are taking away your right for tribunals, they are getting rid of maximum working hours, they are making us ALL work till we are too old and feeble to survive.

Yes we are living longer 75 for men and 80 for women in Scotland but we are not any healthier at those ages. Many changes need to be made to tackle this defecit and solve the issues but how is it right or fair to burden one group with this shiny new form of tax!

to ledkr: Yes, we know school is not childcare. However, we have to take every single day's annual leave to cover the amount of holidays and inset days the children have - meaning that as a family we only have 1 week together a year. Then add on the unpaid days off we have to take if (when)a child is sick, as they are outside paid carers leave entitlements agewise now. The only alternative is to find childcare for them - with less than a week's notice that the school would be shut, and five hundred other parents potentially also seeking the childcare for the same reasons. And it would cost us £70 plus for the day - so we have to lose a days pay as its technically cheaper!

Absolutely not!

I support it, though not striking as am in rcn, which didn't ballot for strike action (and even if they did, i provide a frontline essential service, so prob wouldn't be able to anyway).

For me personally, it's not just about pensions, it's about the fact that the nhs is being squeezed to breaking point, that my patients are not getting the attention they deserve because of cuts to service and extra work when we are already at full to bursting with the patients I care for. Add to that the fact that pay has been frozen for 3 years, and that part-time workers who earn less than £15000 pa but are on a salary band which is higher than that for full time equivalent will not be protected from the increase and it gets to the point where people can't see any other option than to strike.

I do believe that there should be a'single public sector pension' as it's incredibly unfair that different public sector workers pay different percentages towards pensions.

iliketea, I agree, we should be paying the same percentages.

imogengladheart, I am also a working mother. I will not be paid on Wed and neither will dh as he will be at home with the kids while I am on the picket line. Ds school is closed so both kids are at home.

I can't afford to lose 1 days wage any more than someone else. I am already paying for the mess through increased fuel, heating costs, shopping bills etc just like every other person in the country. Public sector workers live and experience the same shit as private sector workers.

I am waiting for the budget announcement of tax credit cuts which will no doubt wipe out any support from the government (£10 per week) which I currently get.

Glad to see that horrible little toad, Mr Gove stating his concern for our children on Wednesday. He's concerned for all the Mums having to take a day off to look after their children. That patronising little man hasn't realised that children have 2 parents who share EQUAL responsibility for them. Get a grip man and move into the 21st Century. Striking, Oh Yes! Demonstrating, Oh Yes! Taking the children along to demonstrate too? Oh Yes! This Government's cuts have hit society's most vulnerable groups the hardest and anybody believing the Tories care, are sadly, completely mistaken. Teachers Pensions were changed in 2007/8 and were declared financially viable. This is an attack on teachers, make no mistake about it. For every £1 the tax payer spends on public sector pensions, they pay £2.50 to bail out a failed private sector pension but we don't get to hear about this do we?

When this Government took over, England came in the top 20 countries for education in the world. There was a conference to celebrate this and as the Tories were by then in power, Gove had to attend. He refused to speak to the press and this celebration of our education system was never printed in any newspaper. Teachers aren't failing but this Government most definately is! Public sector workers have nowhere else to go, all avenues of negotiation have failed. Nobody strikes without good cause. Good luck to all the public sector workers embarking on strike action on Wednesday.

Take your children along to demonstate. My children attend every demo I do. We've done Pride, anti BNP and The CUTS marches, to name but a few. My children love it as we're teaching them the power of direct action and how important it is to fight for your rights. C'mon sisters, let's get going!

Here here Barnebear and imogengladheart! We know school is not childcare, it is the law that we send our children to school as we are so frequently reminded. So if it's the law to send our kids to school why isn't it the law that they be taught a minimum of 39 weeks a year (oh, sorry forgot the 5 or 6 inset days) leaving out sickness of course?

The institute for Fiscal Studies has stated that teachers have suffered a 19%loss in earnings, what with the pay freeze and the cost of living etc. This is all the financial gains teachers made over the last 14 years....All gone in 18 months. All this talk of gold plated pensions is utter rubbish! If we want to see Gold Plated Pensions, let's look at M.P.'s! We have 2 choices, we roll over and let this Government destroy our education system and plunder our pensions, or we fight back.