what is your opinion on these strikes today, I totally don't agree with them at all in the slightest i did pop it on my status earlier but took it down as it felt i was being lynched for having my own personal opinion which i thought everyone was entitled to.

just say yes or no do you agree with them

I do and can I just point out it's not just teachers on strike as everyone seems to be going on about us! My husband and I both work in the public sector and will end up being £100 a month worse off because of this, having to work an extra 6 years to get my pension and my hubby's pension will be worth £60,000 less even though he is paying £60 a month more. Now we don't have a spare £100 per month so I don't know how we'll manage and the pension I was due to get anyway would only just let me scrape by so there is nothing 'gold plated' about it as I also keep hearing. So yes I fully support the right for people to stand up for themselves! Sorry for the rant but I have had nothing but abuse off people today and I haven't even been on strike!

but its not just the teachers that are striking, courts , jobcentres and whole lot of other services have been on strike today.

even if rich's teachers were not, he still would not be in school because of the support staff and escorts for the buses are.

but i do agree, with them, its only asking what we signed contracts for when we started working for local goverment, we not asking for increase, we asking for what was already agreed.

alot of status were saying about the armed forces and this effects them too and if the government do what they are saying, then it will effect their pensions too. this part annoyed me, because if they are successful it will effect all services, including the armed services

i know you just wanted a yes or no answer, but i think its unfair to do it just on the teachers, when other services have been effected. i would imagine the courts closing as had a huge effect, worse than schools to be honest,

so in answer to the poll i agree with the strikes and can imagine there will be alot more of them in september and that will be worse as more unions will be joining them then

i based it on just teachers purely because they are the ones providing the most vital service to our children that had the strike today x

I'm a teacher and I'm not keen with strikes education. However we do have to stand up for ourselves. People seem to think its some kind of cushy job and that simply isn't true. Before I had Jamie I was in work by 8 in the morning and didn't leave until 5. I worked at least one day of each weekend and for a large chunk of my holidays (i teach History and English and there's loads of reading, etc). We get less than inflation for a payrise when times are good and nothing when times are bad. I understand people need to tighten their belts and I think working longer is something everyone can accept but we're going to be paying more for our pensions when we effectively get a pay cut every year.

Sorry that turned into a bit of a rant but like others I've faced abuse all day (despite the fact I'm not striking) and have also been told all day my job is easy

i would never say its an easy job kids can be ( i say this because not all kids are) cheeky, rude, disruptive, and nasty and then there is the marking, lesson plans and that I also dont hink i have been abusive towards anyone it is just my personal opinion and i know a lot of my friends agree especially those that had to take unpaid leave to look after their kids on a day they should of been in school

SuziandGracie wrote:

i would never say its an easy job kids can be ( i say this because not all kids are) cheeky, rude, disruptive, and nasty and then there is the marking, lesson plans and that I also dont hink i have been abusive towards anyone it is just my personal opinion and i know a lot of my friends agree especially those that had to take unpaid leave to look after their kids on a day they should of been in school

I don't think anyone who mentioned getting abuse meant you were giving it. You're right - you're perfectly entitled to your opinion and I have nothing against it. If I was a parent that had to take a day off work or arrange child care I'd probably not be happy too. You certainly shouldn't have felt you had to take stuff off facebook because of what people are saying

SuziandGracie wrote:

i based it on just teachers purely because they are the ones providing the most vital service to our children that had the strike today x

you make a valid point about teachers providing a vital service to our children!!! If we don't support our teachers then who is going teach our kids in the future. The vast majority of teachers in this country are overworked and underpaid.

I work in education and these cuts affect me and my colleagues and support them completely and applaud them for making a stand today!!

I stand by teachers and the other public sector people that have striked today. Both me and my oh are Police Officers are not allowed to strike. The pension that we and all the other public sector workers signed up for could be changed, we would have to pay more money and have to work longer. We are not getting pay rises and my job is changing by e minute. We have no choice but to go along with what the government decide so yes good on them for striking, I would if I could.

I agree. If id read this first I prob wouldnt have just commented on siobhans FB status - wasnt meaning to have a go siobhan, I just have a different opinion to you.

I think people are well within their rights to strike today and genuinely dont understand why this has became an armed forces vs public sector issue. I dont think anyone is getting at the soldiers or being disrespectful by trying to get a decent wage.

I dont agree with striking in any job role.....lynch me now, its just an opinion!

I believe everyone is very lucky to have a job, also how would you feel if everyone had the right to strike.....say you went into the hospital for help, and found that the doctors or nurses were on strike?

We are getting a crap deal too, but I accept all that knowing im lucky to be in employment at all (as much as I moan about it)

My friends feed on FB is jammed with objections towards striking, so I think that there are a lot of people with the same opinion as me, just maybe their lying low on this one

Its very controversial x

Im not sure where i stand on this.

I actually accepted the new deal when it was presented to me on the basis that id rather have a career average (which actually only spans the last ten years of work not your entire career than a final salary so i can go part time towards the end of my career without my pension being affected and thereby work til 65 without going potty.

I spent a long time on the decision but either way Im annoyed by the inference public sector workers shouldnt be entitled to their pension schemes and this stupid gold plated reference. When i joined the NHS i accepted i was going to work weekends, i was gonna work nights and i was going to work bank holidays/xmas/easter-miss portions of my kids 1st xmas, not spend new years with my husband, i would frequently encounter abuse, i would have to deal with disagreeable things. Pretty much every unpleasant aspect of my job i accepted, its what comes with the turf and at the end you get a high quality pension, at the time the NHS pension was known as the finest in the country. Kind of a payback for all the above if you like. Basically if you dont like it go work in the private sector and you can have your bank holidays and christmases off and the chance are no body will ever piss in your shoes! You roll the die you make your choices.

So now im basically hearing well no we want you to continue to do all the disagreeable crap of your job, hit government targets, work public holidays etc but dont expect any kind of thanks at the end of it, we want you to do the crap we just dont want to acknowledge it. Ive seen our nursing numbers slashed by a 3rd in 8 years in our department while being expected however to see 20% more patients than we were during that time and some months ive looked at my pension contribution on my payslip and thought ah well at least i know ive got something stashed away there. Now im being told to pay more in to get less out cos the public want to use our services just not contribute to them.

*Breath*

That said!

Im not sure i agree with the strikes. Ive felt increasingly uncomfortable over the last 10 years with the fact everyone seems to find it fashionable to strike these days to get their own way, it smacks off toddlerish foot stamping to me. And as a nurse i dont strike anyway but if i were allowed to im not sure my morals could allow me to knowing the knock on effect it would have on the public i owe a duty of care to. Im kind of with Lisa M on this one. I agree with the sentiment not with the action.

And can i add two more points to ponder. They want to rejig the pensions because it costs 32bn from taxation every year. Well they are currently sending 11bn in aid abroad every year so theres 3rd of that pulled back immediately, at the risk of sounding jingoistic sort out the home turf first. And secondly please stop turning this into a soldiers vs teachers argument on the FB pages. Im from a frces family and have the utmost respect for all our forces but they are sometimes elevaed from mere mortals to gods of the highest order to score nitpicking points. I quote:

When u strike today, pause for thought... there are men and women who have also had a pay freeze, been told they don't have a career anymore and are fighting for YOUR freedom from terror. They cannot strike or protest about their rights, yet they continue to serve with dignity, courage and honour. Still want to strike? Shame on you! Sleep well in your comfy beds and let's hope you sleep with a clear conscience!!

Just to break this down i may not fight against terror (unless you count saturday night drunks) but this status can also apply to nurses and police as they save lives every day and have no strike rights whatsoever so its not an armed forces vs public sector argument thats just an ill thought out commentary that smacks of sensationalism.

Um.....ive kinda gone off on a rant but basically im not ticking the poll cos i agree with why its being done i just dont agree with the fact it IS being done iykwim

Mario I didnt intend to sensationalise when I said it was turning into armed forces vs public sector. From a number of FB status's I saw today, not just the one quoted above, that is the what I felt it was becoming - soldiers/armed forces were being compared to everyone else and nobody could compare as they hadnt been to war.

I agree that the status you quoted could apply to others, I perhaps didnt see that at first as the main theme of the day has been soldiers vs teachers... on my FB anyway.

Snoops i was agreeing with you chick, i meant the people writing the soldiers statuses were posting ill thought out commetary as the armed forces fall in line with police and nurses in not being able to strike so why single them out

totally agree with you Rotster, nicely put.

Just one thing to add (my personal opinion - so neither right or wrong). Remember, people in the armed forces CHOSE that career path and know full well what their job may involve i.e injury and/or possible death. I agree with Rot, even though what they do is amazingly brave and deserve total respect I am a bit sick of people (no-one here) singling them out as martyrs and deserving of better pay/conditions than anyone else.

This applies to nurse, teachers, social workers, doctors and the rest of the public sector - they also have very tough and responsible jobs.

Probably went a bit off the topic too

Ah ok. Get you now Mario!

My poor construct there. I reread it and i can see how it could have been read either way. On another foot note i also was reading a citywire article earlier about why should tax payers foot the bill for public sector pensions. Im a tax payer and a public sector worker as are ALL publi sector workers. I personally chuck a good 8-9000 a year in taxes as far as i can work out. I dont baulk at that its my duty as a citizen of the UK and see it spent on some TRULY ridiculous crap. I dont think using a proportion of it on pensions for those who have served the public is a terrible thing.

I havent' read everyone's replies but no I don't agree with the strikes.

Whilst I think what the government are proposing is not fair I also think that the UK is in a very bad financial position at the moment and if it carries on the way it is people might be lucky to get ANY pension at all.

I think people who have jobs are lucky to be working and need to remember that there are plenty of other people who can step into their shoes and unfortunately the government know this. I think given the current climate that people need to let the government do what they want - at the end of the day I think they will go ahead anyway.

I agree mario though that there are better ways for the government to cut back on spending without damaging the people that actually do work hard for the country like the nurses, doctors police teachers etc.

I work at a specialist fe college for adults with severe learning difficulties who have extremely long and onerous journies into college, on top of needs for predictable routines. So if we striked, we would be impacting them sooooo much.

I am proud to say (and maybe i am wrong to feel proud, dunno) that not one teacher from the college striked because our students are more important than that.

Also there must be other ways of getting what is wanted, that has less impact on those who we are meant to be serving? Its not just the kids/adults, its also the parents and carers who have to make special arrangements and impacts severely financially.

MAndy x

The concept of a pension should be that you pay into a fund - a pot of money administered by the scheme - and that fund should then be used to pay the pension, rather than the taxpayers. However if the government have already spent the money contributed then the taxpayers end up paying, which seems to be what is happening. The proposed changes aren't based on any sort of valuation of the contributions paid to date, life expectancy, etc - they are purely a government cost saving.

The career average thing wouldn't be so bad if the inflation used was reasonable, but if the inflation rate used is crappy then your pay 40 yrs ago will be under-valued. The proposed change is using the lower CPI inflation rather than RPI as currently used - except for MPs who are sticking with RPI....