Everybody out!

[Bilbraborn 1,594]

At the end of the day, the workers will never win. Just remember what happened to all our motor building industry, shipbuilding industry, locomotive building industry and textiles industry. Any industry which has to compete with the rest of the world has to be strike-free. Like I said, we all deserve good wages and conditions, but in the private sector, striking for more pay usually ends with less jobs and even no jobs. It is easy for the public sector, all that they have to do is raise taxes or council taxes. Then we all have to pay more.

[mgread1200 141]

Exactly right Bilbraborn! The private sector makes the money and the public sector spends it. Both work hand in fist with each other and the public sector cannot have a better time of it unless the private sector is doing very well.

[Bubblewrap 3,815]

Re post 25 and it was like permanent nights too...........................................Not mutch light on the coal face.

[Bubblewrap 3,815]

As Springsteen once said, "Unions have been the only effective voice working people have ever had in the history of this country." He was referring to the States but it applies equally here.

[Bubblewrap 3,815]

To a better tune

[Bubblewrap 3,815]

Exactly right Bilbraborn! The private sector makes the money and the public sector spends it. Both work hand in fist with each other and the public sector cannot have a better time of it unless the private sector is doing very well.

AND as a general rule the public sector does what the private sector wont do as there is no money(profit) to be made unless you pay rock bottom wages.

[Bilbraborn 1,594]

You certainly won't make a profit having one bloke up a ladder, two holding it and three watching.

[mick2me 3,033]

And a Foreman>Manager>Section manager>Departmental Manager,>Construction Manager> Regional Manager.... etc

[Michael Booth 7,364]

Don't forget elf & safety.

[catfan 14,793]

You certainly won't make a profit having one bloke up a ladder, two holding it and three watching.

All with a company supplied van each of course.

[NewBasfordlad 3,599]

#31 Once upon a time I would have agreed with that post but it is not so these days. My wife worked in a council home for elderly dementia people before retirement and they were much better paid than the people working in the private sector. Nottingham council gas engineers are paid very well £800 to £1000 a week dependent on skill level.

Our once poor cousins in the public sector have done very well for themselves over the last decade or so, both in pay levels and terms and conditions.

As has been pointed out without a thriving private sector you can't have a thriving public sector, after all it's the private sector that makes the money that pays the taxes that pay for everything.

[siddha 825]

I thought that if you worked (whether in the private or public sector) then you pay taxes . Most money spent by anybody is taxed.

[denshaw 2,872]

Council gas engineers used to earn good bonuses, a lot of bonuses have now stopped.

[mick2me 3,033]

http://www.theguardian.com/news/datablog/2011/nov/21/public-sector-employment-uk-map

[StephenFord 866]

Strikes are occasionally necessary, but usually a mug's game. A week on strike is a voluntary 2% pay cut during the current year that you never get back, whatever the eventual settlement. You may also be sawing through the branch you are sitting on!

[Compo 10,328]

Post #3: It must be a mammoth task for union leaders to find a strike date that suits ALL teachers. With holidays being at different times throughout the UK council areas and three months out before you even start to look for a date; it must be enough to put most people off even trying!

[Ayupmeducks 1,730]

What are the purpose these days of such long school breaks???

[Michael Booth 7,364]

We didn't moan when we were at school though.

[NewBasfordlad 3,599]

#37.

If you work out that public sector workers are paid from the public purse it doesn't quite work that way. Yes they seem to pay all the same taxes as everyone else, but as it is taxes that pay their wages in the first place they are only putting back some of what they have received.

Only the private sector makes money to pay taxes that mean anything. If we took a public sector worker and deducted £50 from his/her wages then reduced their tax bill by the same amount it would make not the slightest difference to the balance in the public purse or to their standard of living.

The private sector taxes provide everything that the that the public worker has to spend, from their taxes, to the socks on their feet to the cars they drive.

[mick2me 3,033]

[Bilbraborn 1,594]

I must say that we absolutely do need the public sector. But the difference is this. In the private sector, all the money comes from what is produced. Every penny has to be accounted for. Even in management. In the public sector (usually) nothing is produced to be sold to pay wages. It is all taken from taxes or council taxes. So easy. Staff need a pay rise? increase the tax or council tax. Why do modern council leaders pay themselves so much?

[Michael Booth 7,364]

The simple answer, Bilbraborn, is because they can. Their pay and pension pots are scandalous, yet they don't think twice when they hit the poor and aged as they claim they have no money.

[NewBasfordlad 3,599]

The rot started when they began to use the term 'local government' gives them ideas well above their station in life.

[mick2me 3,033]

Why do modern council leaders pay themselves so much?

UKIP Councillors David Sprason and Lynton Yates proposed at the Leicestershire County Council budget meeting to cut members expenses saving over £102,000 the Tories and Lib Dems voted against it

[siddha 825]

Why don't we privatise the lot - including councils?

It might then be interesting to see who pays themselves so much!!

I am not convinced that the needs of working people, the poor or the aged would be any higher in the pecking order.