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yes

14 (30.4%)

no

29 (63%)

undecided

3 (6.5%)

Total Members Voted: 38

Voting closed: 29 November 2011, 19:36:51

[The Red Baron]

what about those that have to take a day off because the schools are closed, oh & unpaid of course, & maybe get a good rollocking for doing it, just because some decide to strike.
get real.
 

[Vamps]

what about those that have to take a day off because the schools are closed, oh & unpaid of course, & maybe get a good rollocking for doing it, just because some decide to strike.
get real.
 

Goverment stance is take your child to work..........

[millwall]

what about those that have to take a day off because the schools are closed, oh & unpaid of course, & maybe get a good rollocking for doing it, just because some decide to strike.
get real.
 

Goverment stance is take your child to work..........

im sure they would love it if i turned up to work tomorrow with son in tow  im at a chemical plant for the day

[Vamps]

what about those that have to take a day off because the schools are closed, oh & unpaid of course, & maybe get a good rollocking for doing it, just because some decide to strike.
get real.
 

Goverment stance is take your child to work..........

im sure they would love it if i turned up to work tomorrow with son in tow  im at a chemical plant for the day

Well it's the government you wanted.....

[Auto Addict]

What a lot of people forget, when they slag off the current 'Mob', is that Labour (Gordon Brown) raided the pension funds when they were in power, which has contributed to the mess.

[tunnie]

I resolved some of pension issues, by increasing my contributions 

Me too. Its the only answer, either that or study the horses further

So I'm having to increase my contributions, and even then end up with a smaller pension than I'd planned and hoped.

Sound familiar?

Trouble is I need to increase it even further, I was lucky enough to get a 4.5% pay rise this year. Decided as things were comfortable, to increase my contributions to 8%, company also puts in 8% so leaving 16% fund, think it needs to be closer to 25% though. 

Handle little online calculator showing % contribution vs "projected" pension is scary, still hoping doing ground work now will set me up for later on. 

[Auto Addict]

I resolved some of pension issues, by increasing my contributions 

Me too. Its the only answer, either that or study the horses further

So I'm having to increase my contributions, and even then end up with a smaller pension than I'd planned and hoped.

Sound familiar?

Trouble is I need to increase it even further, I was lucky enough to get a 4.5% pay rise this year. Decided as things were comfortable, to increase my contributions to 8%, company also puts in 8% so leaving 16% fund, think it needs to be closer to 25% though. 

Handle little online calculator showing % contribution vs "projected" pension is scary, still hoping doing ground work now will set me up for later on.

Wise move

[LJay]

Some interesting, in not rather one sided views here, and as I don't do political arguments I just want to make a couple of comments, as a public sector worker.....I am NOT trying to score or even make a point, just a ramble, you have been warned......

I have worked both sides of the fence, worked in, Military, sales and industrial and even done some driving, HGV and PSV over the years.
Moved into the public sector in 1987 going from Private company, private medical treatment, non contributory pension, company car and expenses, earning £9k basic up to about £12k with commission   I got fed up with sales, I earned more than the sales manager and had to work harder each year to stand still, nothing wrong with that but, found myself working all hours, as indeed many people do today....

In 1987, out of the blue an opportunity came my way to work in a 'vocational' way but meant a drop of everything and a salary of £5k I was lucky enough to be able to do this, taking on driving work to help pay the bills. Over the years I have developed, trained and went to University aged 39 to get the qualifications for the Job I now do.......I recently got a promotion which gave me an extra £800 per year, other than this I was getting paid the same in 2004 as I was to a few months ago, we have also seen a £1200 net pay cut over the last 3 years, in stages ending in march next year.......... There are few private sector Job that carry the same responsibilities and risk balancing that I do on a daily basis, those that are available, pay considerably more, I could walk into one of these Jobs tomorrow, I choose not to because of the security and benefits I have as a public sector worker.

There are times when I want to have a moan and a groan, feel over worked and put upon by management, but I remember having those complaints in the private sector.......

On the whole do I love my Job, despite being shat upon at times.....YES

Am I on strike? NO

Our bins will not be emptied tomorrow, I can live with that, what is forgotten on here, unless there is a nice juicy story is, the less obvious, but essential, work that is done by public service workers to provide essential services that some on oof would complain about if they were not available, and that my friends is fact....

A well balanced post Vamps. .............Imo very few people would argue with the fact that we need a public sector. Of course we do,although I am convinced it should be much smaller than it is. We need public services,quite a few of them are vital to enable the country to function. I also think its apparent to many that certain aspects of the public sector have got completely silly in recent years and need to be brought back to reality in 2011.
I fear that people will allow themselves to be used as pawns in a political game - wreck this govt asap and get a union friendly/ funded govt back in power.

We do need a public sector but the folk who work in it are on a damn good thing.  They choose to do that job and provide the services that they do so to go out on strike is basically crapping on the people who need them.  Life and indeed employment is about taking the rough with the smooth and these people need to realise that in their selfishness.

[hoofing it]

The goverment are sticking the knife in by planning on using £20 billion of our pension fund to pay for roads/railways would the private sector give away there pension pot I think not.
The other question is what the hell are we paying road tax for.
I can understand why cuts are needed but this just sticks in your throat.

[TheBoy]

I resolved some of pension issues, by increasing my contributions 

Me too. Its the only answer, either that or study the horses further

So I'm having to increase my contributions, and even then end up with a smaller pension than I'd planned and hoped.

Sound familiar?

Trouble is I need to increase it even further, I was lucky enough to get a 4.5% pay rise this year. Decided as things were comfortable, to increase my contributions to 8%, company also puts in 8% so leaving 16% fund, think it needs to be closer to 25% though. 

Handle little online calculator showing % contribution vs "projected" pension is scary, still hoping doing ground work now will set me up for later on.

Yup, if you only started your pension since being Rupert's bitch, you probably need to put shit loads in now to catch up.

Combined, I think mine is currently getting about 22%. Not sure this is enough, even though I've been paying into pension schemes since 18 (I froze that pension (as it was a good DB one) when I left BT).

I'm trading off how much is going into pension (would like to bump up a bit) with paying off the mortgage, which as you know I have a plan in place to do by 2016, when my endowment from my first house comes out.

[tunnie]

I resolved some of pension issues, by increasing my contributions 

Me too. Its the only answer, either that or study the horses further

So I'm having to increase my contributions, and even then end up with a smaller pension than I'd planned and hoped.

Sound familiar?

Trouble is I need to increase it even further, I was lucky enough to get a 4.5% pay rise this year. Decided as things were comfortable, to increase my contributions to 8%, company also puts in 8% so leaving 16% fund, think it needs to be closer to 25% though. 

Handle little online calculator showing % contribution vs "projected" pension is scary, still hoping doing ground work now will set me up for later on.

Yup, if you only started your pension since being Rupert's bitch, you probably need to put shit loads in now to catch up.

Combined, I think mine is currently getting about 22%. Not sure this is enough, even though I've been paying into pension schemes since 18 (I froze that pension (as it was a good DB one) when I left BT).

I'm trading off how much is going into pension (would like to bump up a bit) with paying off the mortgage, which as you know I have a plan in place to do by 2016, when my endowment from my first house comes out.

Yup.

Started work 2007, no pension scheme there. Got Sky perm role after being contractor in Jan 2010, so sod all in my pot! 

[TheBoy]

The goverment are sticking the knife in by planning on using £20 billion of our pension fund to pay for roads/railways would the private sector give away there pension pot I think not.
The other question is what the hell are we paying road tax for.
I can understand why cuts are needed but this just sticks in your throat.

Yes, private companies raid the pension schemes if they are controlled/run by the company. My old company, BT, got in the deep do-dah financially by raiding pension schemes when it was trying to rule the world in the early 90s.

This sure as hell isn't something unique to public sector.  Difference being is private sector went through this auserity a few years back .  If I had stayed at BT, I would have had to have increased my contributions by 2% and see the value of it reduce - though I didn't go through that, as I was TUPEd out, and had to freeze my BT DB pension, and enter the new company's DC pension scheme.


In the case of public sector, the pension deficit is too big, and utterly unsustainable. The *ONLY* solutions are:
significantly reduced pension benefits
significantly increase contributions
pension kicking in much older in life
combo of above, which is what government are proposing

The governments proposals do not go far enough, by a long shot. There will still be an unsustainable pension deficit after this, so there will have to be further measures later.

[cem_devecioglu]

Where will the money come from to pay for it ? ................the figures involved will be many billions of pounds and will continue for ever and ever....

[evil mode on] as you are not the related minister its not your duty to find money Albs.. so calm down.. 
 
the politicians should plan and dont drain your money to banks flowing to offshores.. its their responsibility..

[cem_devecioglu]

Where will the money come from to pay for it ? ................the figures involved will be many billions of pounds and will continue for ever and ever....

[evil mode on][lands on the subject with parachute] as you are not the related minister its not your duty to find money Albs.. so calm down.. 
 
the politicians should plan and dont drain your money to banks flowing to offshores.. its their responsibility..

[cem_devecioglu]

Sack the strikers.

I'm afraid that many in the public sector have had it so good for so long (on pensions) that they find it very difficult to accept what most of those in the private sector have had to tolerate in the last 15yrs.

So I do feel for them, but do believe they need to understand that the current pension arrangements are unsustainable. To be honest, even the proposed arrangements, that the strike is over, is unsustainable, and still represents an excellent pension scheme.


Despite me (and my company) paying in several thousand pounds this year, my pension pot is 2 grand less than it was this time last year  . Thats a reality check, maybe our public sector need that

I'm a public sector worker and your wright  we got a better pension until that wa*kstain clegg got his hands on it to pay for roads and railways (£20 billion)
The public sector were paid less than private  sector workers doing the same or similar jobs but we(public sector) got a better pension than the private to compensate.
So before all you do-gooders jump on the band wagon slating us what if your pension company said 'screw you' were cutting your pension Oh and you'll pay more what would YOU do.
Ive not had a pay rise in the last three years but the cheif execs/councilers in most councils gave themselves a 12% rise

   happy to see someone from my camp