Do you agree or disagree with today's public Sector protests?

[anotheoldgit]

http://www.telegraph....ic-sector-action.html

With the Private Sector also experiencing cuts and other changes to their less generous pension schemes, can the general public find any sympathy for these Public Sector workers?

Since it is illegal for Prison Officers to strike will they all be prosecuted, if not perhaps our Armed Forces should also down weapons because their pensions have also took a hammering, not to mention the conditions they have to work under?

[Davethedog]

TO THE ED SO I CANT CALL A NAZI A NAZI THEN

[Gromit]

// Someone wonderfully fluffed up BIG time somewhere.. and not just in the last 2 years!!! //

And not just the previous Government. But the Government before that and the Government before that the Govern.....

[anotheoldgit]

/// AB is probably more representaTive of the general public as it does not have one political party to support. ///

An over generalisation, could it be that an overwhelming number of ABers lean to the left?

[Nosha123]

Had labour not spent all the money the Tories built up though.. we wouldnt be cutting back now - we would be looking at growth.
Their mantra is SPEND SPEND SPEND.. and allow people to sit at home on their backsides for years on end claiming benefits and saying they cant find a job!

[Nosha123]

Anyhow - I dont have a pension.. I dont believe in them. Would rather it was ME in control of where my money is invested and then I cant quibble if it goes wrong.
Anyhow - I couldnt afford to pay £250 or £300 per month into a pension scheme! Who has that kind of money knocking about??

[Nosha123]

scrap that..
http://money.guardian...orm/0,,603163,00.html
States I would need to contribute £600 PER MONTH into a pension!
Double ouch

[anotheoldgit]

Seems from your Guardian report that not everyone was in agreement to Brown's teenage mother's hostels.

I presume that when workhouses were first introduced it also seemed a good idea.

Much better to have a roof over your families head in exchange for doing some work, and a great deal better than being homeless and hungry, begging on the sewage strewn streets of long ago.

[sp1814]

"An over generalisation, could it be that an overwhelming number of ABers lean to the left?"

Not necessarily...remember the 'News' section is only one part of AB and I'm not sure whether it has the highest number of regular contributors.

Ignoring the other Topics, I would suggest that (from what I've seen) more contributors are moderates, with a few rabid right wingers and a scattering of lunatic lefties.

[Davethedog]

Please remember that anyone who doesn't agree with AOG is a leftie.

[anotheoldgit]

Davethedog

/// Please remember that anyone who doesn't agree with AOG is a leftie. ///

Well there's a clever one, surely that is obvious, since I am a 'Rightie' then isn't it obvious that everyone who doesn't agree with Right-Wing views, could be considered a Leftie.

[THECORBYLOON]

"isn't it obvious that everyone who doesn't agree with Right-Wing views, could be considered a Leftie."

Are there not folk who have moderate views and folk who have some left-wing AND some right-wing views?

[excelsior-1]

as i have stated before, striking only places more financial burdens on the company involved - and when the workers resume work, there is even less money in the pot with which to settle the matter .. therefore striking is self-defeating.

furthermore, the government inherited this mess, and are only attempting to rectify it. if people want to blame anybody - blame the last government

[Old_Geezer]

I have sympathy with any worker who finds the agreement they reached on joining their employing organisation is being changed without their approval. Agreements should be binding. Only exceptional circumstances should change that, and a properly managed agreement should never reach that stage.

[anotheoldgit]

Well here we are on answer 50 of a topical and inoffensive question and yet a certain person has chosen to use the opportunity to turn this question into personal and ageist attacks such as:

/// what a good idea and for those to old and infirm to work, we could get the private sector to open establishments, that could make sure they can work until they are dead. ///

Deliberately calling me a Nazi, and then after the ED removed that offensive remark, he still was not satisfied he had to make a mocking sarcastic comment to the ED, along with a further Nazi implication against me.

/// TO THE ED SO I CANT CALL A NAZI A NAZI THEN ///

We do not need these type of people on this site, as they repeatedly ignore the rules, and I quote.

/// We understand that debates get heated, but personal attacks and abusive language will not be tolerated. ///

[Grizelda43]

I don't agree with the public sector strikes. As a public sector pensioner, I can manage my small pension, but if I live as long as my mother, I will draw in pension many times what was paid in over my working life. It seems to be forgotten that people are living longer, and this is why some pension plans are becoming unaffordable in the long term. The unions are being short sighted, and only looking at tomorrow and not the next 20 years.

[Davethedog]

Haha Incorrigible.

Did you genuinely not see the workhouse comment for what it was.

If your not what are you? You defend the EDL you raise every racist point to follow your own agenda.

in the past, have been vitriolic in your personal insults on people on here, but when its you, you run off bleating. I suggest that if you cannot take it you don't hand it out.

I have simply responded in kind, to your provocation, every time someone says that you have insulted them, you say it wasn't personal, your misconbstruing this and that.

So let me just say that you have misconstrued what I have said, I was talking about any Nazis that may have contributed. I apologise if you have mis-understood.

[buildersmate]

A much earlier comment by Gromit said:
"The Government have been promising them Pensions and many of them have been contributing for decades, and now the Government want to change the rules."

No, its the employees who have changed the rules by (on average) living too long. Previous Governments made promises based on assumptions, and employees are reneging on the deal. Let's allow the civil servants their beloved pensions provided they agree to voluntary euthanasia in order to maintain the previous average death rate.

Alternatively staff can fork out more whilst they are working, to fund the extra. It's what everyone in the private sector has had to accept.