Strike

[PatriciaH]

Are their any people going on strike tommorrow over pension plans?Unison members ..

[dannydingbat]

Oh yes indeed.

[andy-hughes]

My eldest daughter is a classroom assistant, so she will be out. If I were a member of her Union, I'd be out as well.

[shazbang]

I work for a private company and therefore am not part of a union but would've loved to have gone on strike to protest over the pension plans because they affect us all - not just public sector workers. However, I do have one tiny gripe about tomorrow. Because the buses are on strike I have to walk to work (almost 5 miles) and home again. It may not sound much of a distance but it is to someone who's not used to walking that far. How's everyone else coping with the effects the strike will cause?

[gammaray]

Losing a days pay, for what exactly..??

[loobie]

I totally agree with you Gamma, what's the point!! And thinking of it this way...my mum is a carer for people with Alzheimers and dementia who live in their own homes. She was thinking about joining a Union but when told about the strike she decided against it. She said she would feel so guilty for her clients who depend on her to get them bathed, dressed and fed. I certainly wouldn't appreciate it if a member of my family was not looked after properly because their carer went on strike.

[andy-hughes]

I see your point loobie but emotional blackmail is not a valid reason to deprive people of a pension scheme to which they have contributed. Where do you draw the line? How about MP's pensions, which remain index-linked and inflation proof, and ensure that they can retire in comfort.

Financial mismanagement has led to a pensions crisis, and people have to make a stand. Negotiations have been tried, and failed, and in a democracy, people are entitled to make their views known, and hear, and this, sadly, is the way it has to be done.

I would be unhappy if directly affected, which I am not, but i would aslo side with the strikers, none of whom are well-paid enough to stand loosing a day's pay without considerable cause.

[PatriciaH]

http://www.unison.org.uk/localgov/news_view.asp?did=2509 ....some of the reasons why

[gammaray]

The way what has to be done? To assume that striking will have any effect is, to say the least, naive. Nothing will change. If striking worked we'd still have a mining industry, a steel industry, a decent rail industry, a car industry and public sector pay would be comparable with the private sector.

All striking does is p**s people off. It solves absolutelty nothing.

[XxHeatherxX]

I'm getting a day off of school because the janitors are off which means there wil be no toilets and the dinner ladies are off also!!!!!

[dannydingbat]

I am sure that this will fall on deaf ears with those who are convinced that "its just public service workers on strike again". I have been paying into a Local Government Pension Scheme for 18 years and am now 55. I can retire on a full pension once my servce and age add up to 85, ie. in 6.5 years time. That is what I have been paying towards and one of the main reasons why I stay with local government. The Government has now said that it wants to make me work to 65 for the same pension. If this change goes ahead, its everyone else's pensions next!! The stupid thing is that the average local government pension is a couple of thousand a year, the people most affected will be women and the total cost will be more in social security payments than keeping the pension the same way as it is at the moment.

[Gef]

Good luck to them. How would you feel if you had paid into a scheme for many years only to be told, "Sorry you can't have your pension tomorrow, you'll have to work another five years".

[Loosehead]

I understand the reasons but why just one day? What will that do? Lose a day's pay and continue as normal tomorrow.

[spaced]

here here! People strike for any reason these days. go to work like the rest of us.

[PatriciaH]

Spaced, i have 2 jobs :) , 3 really ,as i run a house as well.