The Starmer Years - Can The New Broom Sweep Clean?

[Sir Ralph]

46 minutes ago, OldNick said:

is it 6 or 8 weeks in the summer ? then 6 weeks before another week or 2. There is no real need for this as my understanding is that the long vacations were for historic reasons eg when the kids helped with the harvest. Please dont come back saying about stress etc as most modern jobs have untold stress.  

My experience of stress in parts of the public sector and the private sector have different threshold levels (not for all I hasten to add, but many). This from someone who has worked in both. The pay does reflect this in parts of the private sector to add balance. I have known a few people in the public sector that are underpaid for their output and I would pay them more if I was in charge, but there are some sectors where the levels of output wouldnt be acceptable in most private sector environments. In my own experience, the former is less common than the latter.

Edited 3 hours ago by Sir Ralph

[AlexLaw76]

39 minutes ago, sadoldgit said:

No one in this country could live on the state pension alone unless they have won the lottery.

My wife has a Civil Service pension. It is fairly reasonable (at the moment) but she spent 33 years earning crap pay and this was her reason for staying in the job.

I watched a programme called Location Location Location last night. One couple were looking for a modest semi priced at around £1m. The other couple were looking at modest 2 bedroomed flat price not much under half a million quid. Cost of living prices have excelerated way about earnings and benefits over the last 10 years or so. You used to be able to buy 3 pints and still get change from a ten bob note. Now a pint can cost you £7. A portion of fish’n’chips used to be a very cheap meal, now you are lucky to get change out of a £20 note. 

Cutting wages and benefits will only cripple the country even more than it is at the moment.

Maybe the Govt should drop all green taxes to reduce costs to the consumer, yes?

[badgerx16]

1 hour ago, OldNick said:

is it 6 or 8 weeks in the summer ? then 6 weeks before another week or 2. There is no real need for this as my understanding is that the long vacations were for historic reasons eg when the kids helped with the harvest. Please dont come back saying about stress etc as most modern jobs have untold stress.  

Like I said total bollocks. My wife was a Primary teacher: she would do 2 hours at school after the pupils had left then another 2 or 3 at home in the evening, plus most of the day on Sunday marking and planning. Of the six weeks in the summer, probably 3 involved work at home, or even for the week before term started going into school.

This is an easily trotted out, and for those in the system easily debunked, lazy meme. You can do better.

 

[skintsaint]

1 hour ago, Sir Ralph said:

I have known a few people in the public sector that are underpaid for their output and I would pay them more if I was in charge, but there are some sectors where the levels of output wouldnt be acceptable in most private sector environments.

You pay peanuts, you get monkeys, the pay for CS work is very low compared to the private sector, so if you want better more productive workers, you need to pay more. My CS department spends so much on agency staff that can't fill positions, which in turn actually costs more to the department than employing someone on decent wages.

[iansums]

4 hours ago, whelk said:

Yeah all those teachers and nurses that are so easy to recruit, most buy coastal homes in Barbados with their windfalls when they retire

Your usual mocking response. I would actually like to see public sector pensions brought more in line with the private sector. I’m sure many would prefer to see a higher wage than the relatively large amount going into their pensions.