Strike

[lutonlagerlout]

as sean correctly states the private sector has been getting shafted for 3 years
i can get brickies and chipies for a ton a day now
2007 it was £150 all day long
in my house the disposable income has dropped by £500 per week in the last 2 years
the missus company folded and she cant get any kind of meaningful job,plus gas leccy fuel food etc has all gone up
so i got rid of sky ,gym membership,lovefilm,which,times subscription,midweek drinking ,weekend breaks in europe etc etc

we all know the script here,cut to your cloth

LPAD be careful with buy to let right now,to make it work you need an 8% yield annually
so on a 150k 2 bed house,the rent needs to be a grand a month
it was a lot easier when houses were 50 and 60 grand
however if you are using interest only ( uh oh) mortgages and the value of the property falls you are stuck
I know lads in this position
however like you i see this as the only way for me to get some life after work (assuming i make it that far :;): )

and my last point
these public sector workers are small builders like us bread and butter
I would say 50 % of our work over the last 18 years has been for teachers doctors policemen
if they get shafted
so do we
LLL

[seanandruby]

If we left a job the firm would just employ someone else. at my wifes work if someone leaves then their 40 hours a week is cut in half so they have to employ some one doing 20 hours but the other 20 hours work load goes on the already overworked nurses etc: to me a promise is binding, as is a contract, so you expect to get out of something what you put in. How would you like to pay savings into a bank, then the bank tells you ''sorry you can't have your money back, we'll give you 50%?'' This government is taking the piss, big time, someone has to make a stand so fair play to the strikers.

[henpecked]

Right , so if the government is skint, how come :
1,women already lost the right to retire at 60........saving 5 years on all female pensions.
2, pension age to be raised to 67 saving 60 bn +
3,women also looking at a futher extension of a year saving 15bn
4, teachers pensions reduced in real terms but 12% not taking into account the further raise of contribution/lowering of payout
This isn't taking into account they will be milking some poor sod ,in a working class area all his life ,in the full knowledge his life expectancy will mean he wont be enjoying the full benefit of his contributions(especially when hes has to retire at 68 ) . Meanwhile ,Tarquill in Kensington will have a life expectancy of 90+ and probably contributed half as much due to daddy's trust fund.
See my previous post on pensions in economies that are not as large as ours, too. Its smacks of old school tory tactics of divide and conquer ,plead poverty and line their own pockets.

[lutonlagerlout]

well said like that sean
but if they are going to do it they have to be hardcore and do a fortnight

that would get tory boy squirming
LLL

[Bob_A]

How would you like to pay savings into a bank, then the bank tells you ''sorry you can't have your money back, we'll give you 50%?''

That's the point I was trying to make earlier.
I've paid into my pension on the understanding I'd be getting a certain much back but now I'm told it won't be as much.

Those who do not have pensions plans may find it difficult to understand so try and think of it like Sean said.

[London Stone Paving]

Everyone is just looking after their own interests which is fair enough, no else is going to do it for you. Things change though, nothing is for ever. People die, families break up, businesses go bust, raw materials run out, industries collapse. The point is that things change in ever walk of life and why should these pensions be any different. Pensions in the private sector can go up or down. Why the hell should public pensions be insulated from this at the cost of everyone else. its not fair and its not right which is why something has had to change

There was a time when university tuition was free because the thinking was that people would come out of universtity and get a job as an accountant, an engineer, or whatever and there would then be a payback to society. The problem is when you can now do a degree in Harry potter or David Beckham'as backside there is no longer a payback to society, so it had to stop. Things change.

Health & safety. go back 20 years it did not exist, go back 70 years we were sending kids up chimmney. Now business and society is stifled by health & safety and litigation. Things change.

I've got no sympathy for the strikers. I dont want to tar all public workers with the same brush but lets face it, we all know that on the whole working for the council is a cushy number. We've all driven past the council road works and seen 10 blokes standing around trench pointing at things with tape measures while one bloke digs the hole. I know a few teachers, there all back at home every day at 4.30pm. know a few people who work for local governemnt. they work 7 1/2 hours per day and the idea of working on a Saturday is tantamount to a criminal act.

My father in law has spent the last 30 years building up a plumbing business. Turnover of about a million quid a year on tiny margins of 1-2%. He's got no pension, he's had zero help from anybody. He managed to claw enough money for a modest retirement next year until the recession kicked in 4 years ago and people stopped building new houses. Result is he has lost everything. where is his help from the governemnt? He was forced to use all his life savings to pay his blokes redundancy money. Where is his pension? he has contributed a damm site more to the economy than these public sector workers. I've never heard him complain, not even once. Thats the sort of thing that happens in the private sector and people have to just get on with things. Things change !

[parishpaver]

The UK government is skint and is already borrowing money off itself to make up for the shortfall in international interest in our bonds by so called quantitative easing (printing money).

This has been done by many goverments before but has never led anywhere good.

[Carberry]

interesting essay from former IMF chief economist wrote this article a couple of years ago
http://www.theatlantic.com/magazin....1

[seanandruby]

LSP teachers were employed on a contract to work those hours and get there pensions, council workers employed to do what they do ( a good job most of the time ) so can't knock them. You are feeling bitter because your father hasn't got a pot to piss in, so you want public sector workers to be the same....potless. Well my m8, i am the same, nothing to retire on, got to work till 99 and maybe have a year off before i pop my clogs. People should be getting what they signed up for, fair, or not. I for one don't deny a nurse who helps the elderly, sick and the dying, a fireman who is a bloody hero going into burning building, a copper .....ok i draw the line there :;):
As i've said before, my money has dropped 3 times so we are already feeling it, no jam, just dripping on the bread, no holidays to speak off. Anyone who has struggled would never deny a persons right to get what they've been promised.

[seanandruby]

LSP teachers were employed on a contract to work those hours and get there pensions, council workers employed to do what they do ( a good job most of the time ) so can't knock them. You are feeling bitter because your father hasn't got a pot to piss in, so you want public sector workers to be the same....potless. Well my m8, i am the same, nothing to retire on, got to work till 99 and maybe have a year off before i pop my clogs. People should be getting what they signed up for, fair, or not. I for one don't deny a nurse who helps the elderly, sick and the dying, a fireman who is a bloody hero going into burning building, a copper .....ok i draw the line there :;):
As i've said before, my money has dropped 3 times so we are already feeling it, no jam, just dripping on the bread, no holidays to speak off. Anyone who has struggled would never deny a persons right to get what they've been promised.

[London Stone Paving]

You are feeling bitter because your father hasn't got a pot to piss in, so you want public sector workers to be the same....potless.

I'm not bitter about anything Sean. if you read the post properly you'll read he's my father in law not my father and you'll also read that he hasn't complained once about the situation that he finds himself in, unlike these strikers who are in decent stable employent with benefits which yes, are not going to be as good as they were in the past, but are still pretty good compared to the majority of the private sector who have to finance these unsustainable pensions.

To be fair m8 your the one who's sounding bitter talking about Tarquin from kensington. There is always going to be people in society who are far more wealthier than others, its a result of capitalism. Would you prefer communism?

If I've got it right nobody within ten years of retirement is going to have to work beyond thier current contracted retirment age. I saw the strikes on TV and saw all these people on strike, some as young as early to late twenties. they've got thier whole lives ahead of them and they are out on strike winging about something which will happen in 35 odd years. Where is the ambition?

[parishpaver]

All this talk of promises Sean.

Who made them?

[lutonlagerlout]

see what you have stirred up pablo? :;):
can we all agree that we have different views on the strike AKA xmas shopping day
when i was a kid i went on the picket line at vauxhall with my mum, dunno what it was about(circa 1975) but i know people trying to cross it were physically abused by these char ladies on 50p an hour
it seems that folk will come out for a riot but not a picket
btw did you read about teh amount of money the great unwashed have been given at st pauls?
a grand a day
the boggle minds
LLL

[Dave_L]

What, these occupy retards have got money from us taxpayers, tone?

[Carberry]

What, these occupy retards have got money from us taxpayers, tone?

They're right to be protesting something, the majority of them are just idiots who don't know what they're protesting though.
They lack leadership, clearly defined goals and they don't know what they hope to achieve by protesting.

I would like to know what the thousand pound a day figure is though