Wedge!

Having watched the Pat Kenny show last night a few things have become even clearer to me:
- The public sector is going to strike irrespective of what happens
- The public sector honestly believe the crap their unions are coming out with
- This country is going to go through some chaotic times in the next year or so

And what do we get today? A union demand for a pay INCREASE! I know there's an element of posturing before negotiations start however it honesly worries me that so many of the 300k people employed by the state cannot understand that the government must cut spending. NIMBY indeed.

I do not wish to become part of a mud-slinging contest or engage in a public v private sector debate but please bear the following in mind:
-National pay agreements (not to be confused with benchmarking at higher levels) were brought in to bring public service pay in line with the private sector.
-All tax payers paid got stung for the additional income levies, public servants also had to face a pension levy which people seem to conveniently forget resulted in a significant pay cut.
-The public services have also let staff go over the last while - temporary staff being let go, contracts not being renewed, staff who leave are not being replaced so now we are doing extra work and we are still being relied upon to maintain the same level of service. And while we can get over not getting extra money it is grossly unfair to expect us to do more work for less money.

I personally think its a bit much when one of the unions comes out and asks for a pay increase, at this stage I'd be happy to finish the year without another pay cut.
The report released last week was perfectly timed to re-ignite the public v private debate so that if and when the public sector go on strike, the private sector will have no sympathy for them and the government will sit back and sip expensive champagne and smoke the finest of cigars with their banking buddies while we fight amongst ourselves.

Tell me how many of the government ministers have given up their car and driver? How many of them have taken a pay cut? How many of them are forgoing their hefty allowances?

Shinners wrote:
I personally think its a bit much when one of the unions comes out and asks for a pay increase,

This is known as 'positioning' ......

Thanks for that Jayo

As a member of the private sector I have great sympathy for the workers in the public sector, but the top people in the public sector unions really try to do their best to turn everybody against civil servants.
The majority of the union leaders wouldn't know a day's work if it hit them over the back of the head, and seem more concerned with pushing a political agenda and propogating their Marxist philosophies instead of doing what they are paid to, i.e. look after thier members.
It seems to me that they are more interested in sparking confrontations than actually improving the lot of public sector workers, and until the unions are run be people who actually know what a day's work is, they will continue to be a cause of, rather than a solution to, many of the countries problems.