Public Sector workers are aggrieved, but compared to the pensions "austerity" employees have had to endure in the private sector, the Public Sector workers should not expect too much sympathy. Doubling of contributions up to 10% has not been unusual in the private sector as being the price workers have been prepared to pay to stay in a final salary scheme. Traditionally pension contributions were 50:50 shared by employer and employee. With final salary pension contributions at 25% plus, a 10% employee contribution is seen as reasonable in context.
Since most public sector salaries and benefits are met from tax revenues and there is no clear pension "cost", public sector employees have no context in which to evaluate their salary and pension package. In the private sector, pension costs are very transparent and have to be managed.
In the public sector there is a myth that salaries are low to take account of generous pensions. ONS figures give average public sector weekly wage as £605 and private sector as £581. So if you take what the private sector would need to pay for a public sector style pension, around 30% of pay, public sector pay should average nearer £460 p.w.
The governement knows it can't reduce pay so it has to reduce public sector pensions, and that really isn't going to work unless the pension promise is decimated. By just tinkering with the pension, the unions have run circles around ministers and bamboozled everyone with mixed up facts and pension language that is unfathomable, but they are largely correct. The savings resulting from these changes to pensions are a mere drop in the ocean, so why bother. If they are unaffordable today, these changes do not make them affordable. Ministers are losing the argument and Unions are able to mobilise the public sector for heir own agenda.
The strike tomorrow should be by the millions of private sector workers demanding that any tax revenues available to fund pensions should be equally shared between the private and public sector. It is fairness for the next generation and nothing else that justifies re-negotiating public sector pensions. Alternatively, the public sector can accept wages which, when added to their pension, are in balance with the market value of their employment package.
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The biggest scandal was in allowing theiving 'entrepreneurs' access to private sector pension funds. The Maxwells for example should have all their assets confiscated as Robert Maxwell was a theiving bastard and his heirs should not profit in any way from his outrages. Having said that, the Government is howling that the country will come to a halt during public sector strikes. Does this not indicate that publc sector workers are invaluable and deserve a lot more respect than they are being shown. Any group of workers has a right to withdraw labour if they feel aggrieved and have (in their collective view) a genuine case, no matter how that case might be viewed by outsiders.
Another scandal is that 'Bankers' can bring the country to the edge of financial ruin and walk off with millions in a pension fund. Fred the Shred should be shredded .. alive alive oh
For the first time in 14 years of public service I will be crossing a picket line tomorrow.
I came out of the Union after the farcical 2k London Weighting campaign. Went out 5-6 times during that campaign. Losing pay every single time I did.
The campaign was then just dropped. No explanation, nothing. When I questioned this and asked for my 5 days pay out of the strike fund I was invited to resign from the Union if I felt like that.
Talking to colleagues who are close to retirement age many would like to see reasoned discussions as they think the current offer is reasonable.
I feel sorry for people that have paid in for 30 - 40 years and have seen colleagues go with large lump sums and good monthly payments, which under the terms of their pensions they are entitled to. If there was some sort of ring fenced protection for those coming up to retirement age and having paid in for a fixed amount of years, I suspect this would be less of an issue.
We had an agreement, they have gone back on it. It took years to work out, and get us to agree to it, which we did. Now its changed!!
Fred Goodwin walked away with (I think) six million a year pension because it was in his terms and conditions, well guess what, its in mine that I have what I am getting now so leave it alone!
Oh yes, and now we have been told we are having a 1% pay increase for the next two years on top of the pay freeze for the last five years for myself and thats on top of my 3% INCREASE in pension payments which I will have to work another couple of years to claim and when I do its will be for a lot less!
Im walking out at midnight tonight, and Im proud to say it too.
All I say to all the public sector workers is this.............
If you don't want to pay anymore into your pensions then don't. Simply leave the scheme & pay the equivilant 6% into a private pension.
I bet you wont as you know the schemes you are in are a darn sight better than having to fund a pension scheme just by yourself.
sorry, but i have no sympathy AT ALL with the striking public sector workers. For a 6%,8% or even 10% contribution you recieve a LOT LOT more in return when you retire. I should know as I see the results daily in my job as a financial advisor (esp as I deal with NHS workers ) Believe me, it is a small price to pay for what you reacive back at 60 or 65.
This.
Also I had a cold last week - why weren't private sector workers also forced to have a cold?
If it's pissing you off look on the bright side. Life expectancy for teachers who retire at 65 is so bad that once the retirement age is raised to 68 there won't be anyone left alive to receive pensions anyway. Then you can all get on and read The Mail in peace.
many private sector workers don't get sick pay so can't take time off if they have a cold & most certainly don't get a employer sponsered pension scheme. Even the banks have shut their final salary schemes that ALL public sector workers get.
I think its more that private sector workers don't want to have to pay huge amounts for their pensions AND taxes for public sector pensiosn too.
I pay 18% into my pension. I will almost certainly get a worse annuity than a public sector worker paying in 6 or 10%.
I wonder how many of the £2m unemployed would gladly take a job that comes with a guaranteed, inflation proofed pension, sick pay & life assurance all for just a 8.5% deduction from their salary.
Not at all. I'd love for everyone to get great pensions, be able to retire early after a well-paid and fulfilling career and to have puppy dogs and rainbows.
It's just a recognition of reality. Every pound that you don't pay towards your own pension is a pound I'm paying to your pension. I'm not asking you to contribute towards my pension, why are you demanding I pay yours?
No one is saying you can't have it, just pay for it yourself. Just like the rioters you think you can rob the taxpayer because no one stops you.
Fred Goodwin negotiated a deal holding the government to ransom, so I understand your affinity with his position.
Who did you negotiate with? Not me. You negotiated a deal that me, my children and my grandchildren will pay for. The government are just trying to be fair, but fairness to taxpayers isn't something the public sector worry about.
The INCREASE in your contributions you get back when you retire. You work longer because you live longer and because you live longer you get MORE not less. The reduction in annual pension is minimal to make it go further as you live longer and your pension could actually be higher if your salary doesn't keep pace with CPI. If you get paid while you work what are you moaning about. Will you be better off retired? The public sector seem to work to retire not to live.
Everyone mostly has had a pay freeze, why is it only the Public Sector who think they should be immune from any pain.
If you lived in the real world you would see things differently.