A Public Sector in denial

[cakeordeath]

Are you a PS worker in denial?

My husband came home last night at 9.30pm having been gone since 8am.Shattered tired, he told me that they were told yesterday that they have to take a 20% pay cut. My heart sank. I mean it just sank.

I cannot begin to express how I feel about todays strike action.

I defy any PS worker to look at his face this morning as he left for work and then to preach rights and entitlements to him.

My husband is scared.So am I.

( I know there is a thread on pay cuts - but I want Public servants in denial to read below.Please use the link for more info)

Apologies in advance if this has already been posted.

[SIZE="2"]Finfacts Business News Centre[/SIZE]

Irish public sector pay excluding pensions exceeds private sector pay by 10% for top jobs to up to 30% for other grades
By Finfacts Team
Dec 19, 2008 - 4:25:56 AM

Irish public sector pay excluding pensions exceeds comparable private sector pay by 10% for top jobs to up to 30% for other grades according to research published in the Economic and Social Research Institute (ESRI) in its Winter 2008 Quarterly Economic Commentary.

In July 2000, the Public Service Benchmarking Body was established, following pressure from the trade unions, who used news of a number of dot com millionaires to claim that public sector workers were underpaid.


Please Read if you are a PS worker.

Irish public sector pay excluding pensions exceeds private sector pay by 10% for top jobs to up to 30% for other grades

[hopi watcher]

Are you a PS worker in denial?

My husband came home last night at 9.30pm having been gone since 8am.Shattered tired, he told me that they were told yesterday that they have to take a 20% pay cut. My heart sank. I mean it just sank.

I cannot begin to express how I feel about todays strike action.

I defy any PS worker to look at his face this morning as he left for work and then to preach rights and entitlements to him.

My husband is scared.So am I.

( I know there is a thread on pay cuts - but I want Public servants in denial to read below.Please use the link for more info)

Apologies in advance if this has already been posted.

[SIZE="2"]Finfacts Business News Centre[/SIZE]

Irish public sector pay excluding pensions exceeds private sector pay by 10% for top jobs to up to 30% for other grades
By Finfacts Team
Dec 19, 2008 - 4:25:56 AM

Irish public sector pay excluding pensions exceeds comparable private sector pay by 10% for top jobs to up to 30% for other grades according to research published in the Economic and Social Research Institute (ESRI) in its Winter 2008 Quarterly Economic Commentary.

In July 2000, the Public Service Benchmarking Body was established, following pressure from the trade unions, who used news of a number of dot com millionaires to claim that public sector workers were underpaid.


Please Read if you are a PS worker.

Irish public sector pay excluding pensions exceeds private sector pay by 10% for top jobs to up to 30% for other grades

The plight that you and your husband are in was caused by the 'greed is good' policies of the government and not by hardworking public servants. It is stange that you have not wondered will the owners and the bosses that your husband works for also be taking a reduction that will impact in a similiar way on their standard of living? Strange indeed that you haven't.

[Dios]

Yes, those articles have been extensively discussed around here, I even got Michael Hennigan, owner of finfacts, on at one stage to defend his statistics. Theres still a good deal of murkiness and clouding of facts, aided and abetted in no small part by the jaw dropping incompetence of government officials, but the balance would seem to be in favour of finfacts generally, in my considered opinion. Thats not to say there aren't other areas more worthy of cuts than PS rank and file mind you *cough*consultants earn what again*cough*.

[Mazzy Maz]

So instead of your husband and his co-workers seeking improved conditions, you just want everyone else to suffer the same as you? May the ghost of Milton Friedman bless you.

[jake76]

So instead of your husband and his co-workers seeking improved conditions, you just want everyone else to suffer the same as you? May the ghost of Milton Friedman bless you.

Some much for sharing the pain.

[Thac0man]

Are you a PS worker in denial?

My husband came home last night at 9.30pm having been gone since 8am.Shattered tired, he told me that they were told yesterday that they have to take a 20% pay cut. My heart sank. I mean it just sank.

I cannot begin to express how I feel about todays strike action.

I defy any PS worker to look at his face this morning as he left for work and then to preach rights and entitlements to him.

My husband is scared.So am I.

( I know there is a thread on pay cuts - but I want Public servants in denial to read below.Please use the link for more info)

Apologies in advance if this has already been posted.

Ff course they are in denial. The majority of the Public service is well paid, but insist on hiding behind the lowest paid. But even that small section of the Public service is not comparable to the low paid in the private sector, and thats before pensions, job security, working conditions and other perks are taken into account.

Sorry to hear about your husband. A 20% cut is a lot to take. Its the reality a gret many workers are facing, and that is the real face of this recession.

[TradCat]

So instead of your husband and his co-workers seeking improved conditions, you just want everyone else to suffer the same as you? May the ghost of Milton Friedman bless you.

No of course not but as we won't have as many at work in the private sector and many of those that do will be earning less then the government will also be short of money to pay its employees.

Do you think they should borrow it? Or should the OP's husband pay more tax.

[Kevin Doyle]

Are you a PS worker in denial?

I work in a commercial semi-state in the public sector that receives little subvention from Government. The money we get is to implement Government policy in terms of Irish language services that are by their nature outside commercial concerns.

I'm not in denial.

My husband came home last night at 9.30pm having been gone since 8am.

That experience is not isolated to the private sector.

he told me that they were told yesterday that they have to take a 20% pay cut. My heart sank. I mean it just sank.

We had pay cuts of 10% before Christmas. My wife lost her job in November. Our board is currently meeting to implement more stringent pay cuts as our revenue streams dry up and we can't ask Government for more money to maintain salaries. Job losses are also inevitable.

I cannot begin to express how I feel about todays strike action..

Its the CPSU who are out on strike. They represent the lowest paid workers in the public sector who are being disproportionately targeted by this levy.

The levy is unfair, I think everyone acknowledges that.

I defy any PS worker to look at his face this morning as he left for work and then to preach rights and entitlements to him.

Nobody is preaching about rights and entitlements.

My husband is scared.So am I..

Everyone is scared.

Apologies in advance if this has already been posted.

[SIZE="2"]Finfacts Business News Centre[/SIZE]

Irish public sector pay excluding pensions exceeds private sector pay by 10% for top jobs to up to 30% for other grades.

Yes it has been posted many times. Finfacts (using flawed data) are trying to claim that public sector workers earning as little as 20,000 p.a. are being paid 30% more than their private sector counterparts.(In this case they are comparing admin staff-some of whom have tertiary qualifications to retail assistants and burger flippers)
Considering the MW is circa. €18,000, do the math.
Considering the AIW is in the region of €35,000 p.a. those claims become increasingly nonsensical.

In July 2000, the Public Service Benchmarking Body was established, following pressure from the trade unions, who used news of a number of dot com millionaires to claim that public sector workers were underpaid.

I have seen this version of events become increasingly used as a reason for benchmarking.
I've also seen posters here (and on finfacts if memory serves) trying to claim that the housing bubble was the driving force behind benchmarking as well.

Both are of course wrong.

[hopi watcher]

Ff course they are in denial. The majority of the Public service is well paid, but insist on hiding behind the lowest paid. But even that small section of the Public service is not comparable to the low paid in the private sector, and thats before pensions, job security, working conditions and other perks are taken into account.

Sorry to hear about your husband. A 20% cut is a lot to take. Its the reality a gret many workers are facing, and that is the real face of this recession.

All people in managerial positions are well paid. What's your point?
BTW, the real face of this recession is people facing unemployment and employers using it as an excuse to drive down pay and conditions while the government is pursuing a policy that is clearly unfair. The burden must be carried by all those in employment, and with wealth, who have the ability to carry that burden.

[absconded]

There appears to be a large element of begrudgery against the PS.
3 years ago when the private sector was printing and spending money like crazy the PS found it hard to recruit. While they might in overall terms seem overpaid by todays standards, it does seem a little simplistic to be scapegoating PS workers now for the ills of the country.
Cakeordeath, you talk about PS workers in denial. You sound like a Private Sector worker with a short memory.