A day of disruption

TomTom

"Public Sector Workers" is one way of describing "Voters" but MPs are Public Sector Workers as is Cameron and BBC Staff and RBS Staff.....it is not a separate tribe, but you do write as if the Blacks are refusing to pick cotton on the plantation

Perry, a Heartless Curmudgeon

... today's parliamentary proceedings will go untranscribed ...

You mean ... the slippery two-faced politicos can say what they like, - and we have to take their word for it?

Sounds like things are going on as usual.

Pete Hoskin

TomTom: I fail to see what's controversial - or what precludes your point that "MPs are Public Sector Workers as it Cameron and BBC Staff and RBS Staff" - in my sentence that, "One other thing to watch out for today is how successfully Ed Miliband balances support for public sector workers with condemnation of today's disruption, particularly during PMQs."

Stuart Seacole Smith

Seems to me that the "No Cuts!" wonks might do better with a more positive message. Perhaps "Print Money!" placards might do the trick?

Widmerpool

See my posting on the George Osborne story about the Chinese who have $410 billion to invest; they like the cut of George's jib but are spooked by our strike today being the start of something like what happened in Greece where the Chinese lost billions of Euros!

tb

Can't they just tell the taxpayers how much more they want us to pay for their benefits?

Paul Danon

The Reagan diaries have a good bit about the air-controllers' strike, when they discovered that they were employing 6,000 more people than they needed. A few years ago, some staff on the tube's Northern line striked and the service ran better than usual.

Stepney

Today will be divided between those who do and those who don't have a pension. Ironically the ones who don't will be at work.

Luckily Ed knows where the magic money tree is.

PayDirt

This is just going to hasten a repeat of November 1976 when UK Govt begged the IMF to rescue our finances: national humiliation and much deeper cuts in public expenditure.

GDT

TomTom @ 9:17am,
that is a bit of a leap isn't it. Comparing black slavery to the tribulations of public sector workers. You need a reality check.

strapworld

For days the Biased Broadcasting Corporation assisted by Sky News and others have been drumming up this 'Biggest Strike' since the general strike.We have had daily, hourly, every minute reports that the country will be closed, airports will be brought to a standstill, all schools closed etc. etc. etc. Now our dear Mr Hoskins, of this parish, has been drawn in to this apocolyptic scenario journalism. Putting the result before the day is over.

I am hearing, here in Wales, that most people are working. I contacted my local County Council and they reported that 'most, if not all' staff have reported for work. I can see trains operating, planes in the blue skies above,buses operating on the roads. Have our journalists lost all sense of proportion?

Are they all part of this knock the country brigade. Doom and gloom is the order of the day.

In the words of that comedian who lives in 10, Downing Street. Mr Hoskin "Calm down dear". LONDON is not the UK you know! But I would hazard a bet that the majority of people in London are, in fact, working.

It is time to legislate, making strikes illegal unless they have a mandatory majority of all members of that union voting for strike action. The nonsense voting within the unions which brought about this strike is an insult to democracy.

wrinkled weasel

A particular bit of the public sector in a particular part of the country is not in support of the strike. Instead they are electing to take annual leave. Many Union members in this particular sector did not vote for the strike and prefer to avoid the picket lines by this course of action.

I wonder if this has been replicated throughout the country and whether the numbers of those who have walked out will be inflated to include some who have elected not to get involved by going on holiday?

It is also worth pointing out that this is not a strike against employers but against the government and accordingly it is an affront to democracy.

As I have said before, for Dave Prentis, he is not so much at the Tolpuddle Martyrs end of the spectrum, more the Robert Mugabe end, with a gold plated pension to retire with.

Andy H

One of the biggest strategic mistakes that this Government has made was to not get to grips with the latent socialist 5th column that was deployed over the last 13 years.

There are socialist placemen throughout the BBC, encouraging the national broadcaster to deliver propaganda, there are the Unions that launder public money and pay the Labour party, there are union reps throughout the public sector (Political Officers)that get cover as nurses and teachers etc but are never seen at the frontline.

All of which are stoking up the political action that is the real reason behind the strikes today.

The Government should be actively tackling this menace as this will only get worse.

Framer

Is this why the private sector is on strike?

"Percent differences in median full-time weekly earnings between the Public and Private sector 2011" (ONS)

England – public sector is 16% greater
Scotland - public sector is 24.8% greater
Wales - public sector is 21.9% greater
N. Ireland - public sector is 41.5% greater

BigAl

Why should the poor public sector workers pay the price for bankers failure ......... we hear them cry!

Please can Mr Union Man explain to me how the bankers managed to increase the life expectancy of a whole nation?

disenfranchised

broon arbitrarily handed out 800,000 unneeded public sector jobs. if we now simply took them back would that not only be right and proper, but also help avoid the pension time bomb?

Echo34

Let's get on with the race to the bottom then.

Perhaps if the private sector concentrated on fighting for better pensions for themselves things could improve. A race to the top.

Form your own unions, demand better private sector pensions.

Next time your MD or CEO or board award themselves 20% rises and cash bonuses in this time of austerity that we're all in together, do something about it.

The fingerpointing over pensions is a distraction.

Pot Head

Complaining about public sector pensions is just the politics of envy.

michael

OH so this is what it feels like when state employees are formally chosen not to do their jobs.
The end of civilisation as we know it?....frankly... YES
-- We CAN survive without the state's invasive dictatorial self serving self seeking money squandering presence.

Have a nice day.

Irascible Old Git

Having taking the day off work (from the private sector) in order to look after my two kids, can I say that whoever believes that the Beeb are reporting in a 'pro-strike' manner are talking out of their arse.

As for tb's assertion that the public sector are calling on the taxpayer to subsidise its 'benefits', isn't the public sector comprised of taxpayers too? (Well, what little will be left after Osborne has finished wielding the axe.)

Taking a longer view, no-one seems to have picked up on Danny Alexander's comments last night that the Liberals are fully signed up to going into the next election on a two-year austerity ticket.

If this is true, the Liberals will be finished as a political party and Cameron and Osborne, who, let's not forget, couldn't win a Parliamentary majority against the fag-ends of a discredited Government, haven't a hope in hell of cobling together another coalition.

@

@strapworld

It's worth mentioning that London is a pretty big concern - if I recall, it is bigger than Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland combined in terms of population, and we've given them devolved assemblies.

I thoroughly agree about the legislation though: strike action should require support of 51% of 100% of union members before proceeding. It would not suprise me if the only result of this strike were a limitation on the power of more militant Union members, and a waste of money.

Andy Carpark

Pot Head - Privileges that are unearned are indefensible. Unearned privileges that the country cannot afford are doubly indefensible. Unearned and unaffordable privileges of the substantial minority of public sector workers who are little more than obstructionists and box-tickers are triply indefensible. Not only do you not have a leg to stand on, you haven't even got a cocktail stick. Take a nice long toke and go back to sleep.

@

@wrinkled weasel

Aren't the government the employers of public sector workers?

@Andy H
There is an important political issue in play here, as is frequently the case in British politics. Union power should be restricted. Unions should be made more democratic. However, it is left to the voters to decide whether they care enough to demand change or not, and at least until now, they haven't seemed too bothered. Also, socialists are not concealed syndicalist subeversives trying to overthrow the government. They could in fact be useful to the country if they cause government to engage more in economic affairs, rather than try to ride out the storm and not sail free of it.

Nicholas

These aren't Public Sector Workers - these are New Labour, socialist and communist agitators "employed" in the Public Sector. The shoutiest, bolshiest minority agitating against any government they perceive as challenging to their power. The Labour/Union/Public Sector scam has been exposed by Guido.

Sean Haffey

echo34:

This comments sounds reasonable until you think about it. Let's say a nationwide strike of private sector workers got their companies to put up pensions, and so raise costs. There would be two impacts

1. Everyone would pay more for everything

2. More importantly, we'd make ourselves less competitive in the world market. You would buy even less "Made in UK" goods and even more imports.

Bottom line: more people out of work, less taxes received by government and an even worse ecocnomic situation.

Sean Haffey

Nicholas

Actually there are a lot of good-hearted people in the strikes who have been woefully misled by their unions.

alexsandr

Maybe today is when we find out how many of the 'essential services' are in fact not essential and can be axed.

normanc

echo34, most people who work in the private sector do so in small companies. I've worked in small companies, with half a dozen or so employees, and I know how tightly they are ran.

Simply saying 'private employers should raise pensions to be the same as public' is disingenuous. I'm sure many employers would love to but simply can't.

A lot of employers (the majority?) can't even afford to offer any kind of pension, let alone contribute 90%+ of the cost of the thing.

Echo34

Sean,

The issue is that the people at the top of the private sector feel no pain at all in this age of austerity.

Are you advocating that fat cats carry on rewarding themselves obscenely?

Private sector employees should also examine the behavior of their bosses in the current climate.

Taxes and cuts would not occur if we cut out the millions in aid we are coughing up.

5% rise in welfare benefits? = people rewarded for doing buggerall.

Working public servants - 1% rise over the next two years = a pay cut for having the cheek to go out and work everyday.

The government would earn some respect if they reformed their own luxury pensions first.

MilkSnatcher

Ed Miliband: say "These strikes are wrong whilst negotiations are ongoing, but both sides are to blame. The Government has behaved in a reckless and provocative manner. I urge both sides ot get round the negotiating table and sort things out. Say it again 17 times." Cut.

AngloWelshDragon

I am sitting at my desk having a 5 minute sandwich break in the midst of compiling a £16m tender with my team who, like me, got into work before 0700 and will stay as long as it takes to get the job done. There has been no inflationary pay rise in this business for 3 years now, we will all be working to 68 and many have no pension at all.

Stuck on an industrial estate in the Midlands, we were just wondering if the country had ground to a halt as a result of the strike? Because for those of us who don't suck on the tax payers teat for a living, today is just another day.

tb

@Echo34
"Let's get on with the race to the bottom then."

No the race to the bottom started in 1997 when private sector pensions were attacked because of an idealogy, an idealogy continued by the two Ed's today.

So what did the unions say about that? They welcomed the changes even though they were told that it would leave many to live their retirement in poverty, so it's a bit late to be complaining about race to the bottom, you force others to have a reduced pension then expect their support in your fight.

Stuart Seacole Smith

Sean Haffey 11.52: I'm sure you're right that there are good-hearted people taking part in the strikes. And the name we (and come to think of it, also the Unite and PCS leadership in their more honest moments) have for those people is "useful idiots". Actually, you could argue that anyone doing the bidding of McCluskey and Serwotka don't merit the "useful" bit, but that's all down to perspective.

strapworld

@. Thank you. Having worked and lived in London for over thirty years there was absolutely no need to give me that geography/demographic lesson. But it did remind me that the Biased Broadcasting Corporation view the UK as if we are all made up of a melting pot of all the races.

TomTom

Pete Hoskin. The Non-Contributory Pension Arrangements in the public sector have not been touched. MPs continue to have a gold-plated pension plan indexed to RPI not CPI. Ontario Teachers' Pension Fund owns much of our infrastructure because it is FUNDED; CALPERS is another Public Sector Pension Fund. How did our Treasury get access to Pension Contributions of Teachers etc and blow the money ? Why haven't these Schemes been funded ? MPs Scheme is not funded yet after 5 years they have pensions others need a lifetime to attain.

Having been fleeced by Equitable Life myself, I think ALL pensions should be abolished, but on grounds of equity, I want to know what pension Francis Maude thinks he will get and how much he pays for it

Sir Everard Digby

@PotHead,

You are wrong;politics has nothing to do with it. It's pure envy -who would not envy someone who has something you can never have but which you are paying for?

Accompanied by rage that the recipients of this gratitude seem to think that in times of austerity they have immunity from the pain and can inconvenience the rest of us just to rub it in.

Sean Haffey

Stuart Seacole Smith

I can't agree. An idiot is someone with not much intelligence. I know more than a few strikers who are intelligent but have been fed such a pot of bile and poison by their unions that they genuinely believe they are in the right.

The good news is that such people can be shown the truth and in time will appreciate it. The idiots can't.

Dimoto

"Another testing day for the government, as we shift from the autumn statement to a national strike".

Hmmm, really ?

Usually, after the Autumn statement, there would be a few days of forensic examination and interest-group wailing, often not to the government's advantage.

This time, it has been completely overshadowed by the strike, which has raised lots of dust, sound and fury, and where the government case against the unpopular union barons, is much easier to make.

Cynic

"According to the schools minister Nick Gibb, around 75 per cent of state schools will be closed. And on top of that, airport queues will lengthen; non-emergency operations will be cancelled; and today's parliamentary proceedings will go untranscribed." Whereas, with hindsight, this proved to be an overly pessimistic scenario. Some operations have been cancelled, probably less than half the schools have been closed and queues at Heathrow have actually been shorter. Perhaps it's highlighted just how little we need a large public sector.

David Hatton

I don't disagree with those on strikes but the unions are bullies; read my views on the Union Debate http://davidhatton1987.blogspot.com/2011/11/union-debate.html