Are council workers right to strike for a higer pay offer at this time?

Question

Most private sector workers aren't even being offered a rise this year, and they don't have the right to strike and hold the public to ransom. Councils have already said that any increased offer will have to come from increased council tax bills.

Answer 1

Well they would say that wouldn't they. You ever notice how it's always the little people, the ones who are on the front line, who are asked to tighten there belts, but the bosses just let there belts out another notch.

BTW, they're not being offered a raise they're been offered a cut, would you stand for it?

Answer 2

After listening to the news all week, I can safely say that my income, as a pensioner, is considerably less than the most hard done to council worker that the union reps have been able to give as an example of how badly they are paid.

£14000 a year?

I wish.

I won't be getting anything other than a small increase in the winter fuel allowance, and I'm not complaining.

I still pay council and income tax, and, therefore, those people's wages.

No. They can go whistle.

Answer 3

They should be grateful for the offer they got. There just being greedy.

Answer 4

No, they shouldn't be asking for a rise.  I get £10Kpa and an incremental rise of 3% in August, and although I think they should be getting more than the 2.45% (or whatever it is) they were being offered, I don't think they should get 6% at a time when we're all strapped for cash.  (Unless, of course, you can put the letters 'MP' after your name, and not mean you're in the Military Police!)

If by '2.45% rise is a cut in real terms', they mean that their wages are not going to meet inflation, well, join the rest of us.  Spiralling inflation is fuelled not just by the hikes in prices but also for unreasonable demands for pay rises, and so on it goes upwards.  It may not seem unreasonable to demand a pay rise to meet current living standards if you have got used to them, like eating and heating, but I'm with the pensioner.  Pay rises at this particualr time which reflect the ~real~ cost of living, hard as it may be, if put into place will be harder still on the 'have-nots' in our society, and - disgustingly for a 'civilised' country - our pensioners are at the bottom of the heap in such considerations.  No-one is going to give them a 6% pay rise.  They will just get poorer.  I know one lady who lives off Pot Noodles because that's all she can afford for her dinner if she wants to keep warm in the winter.

Answer 5

no one should have the right to strike, if they dont like the pay and conditions why dont they go work elsewhere !  i'll tell you why, because they can retire early and get a bloody bigger pension than i will , that's why.

edit; dd, if the bin men round our way could pick up the d**n recycling bins and empty them into the vans without dropping half of it all over the bloody street then i would agree that they deserved a pay rise, as it is they're bloody lucky to be in a d**n job because if they were private service employees they'd have been sacked a long time ago !

Answer 6

Not in Scotland, as the local Government has frozen the council tax bills with an aim to abolish it completely.

Public sector workers have the right to strike, just like grangemouth refinery workers  have the right to do so. Though I don't expect the grangemouth workers will catcall the civil servants for wanting to keep thier salary schemes intact despite government policies to tax the h**l out of them.

Answer 7

If the council workers aren't satisfied with their pay and conditions why don't they just get a better job.The last time that they held a national strike only 5% of the poulation noticed any difference in their day to day lives.

Answer 8

I am a council worker, and the 2.45% rise is a cut in real terms. The problem is that Unison are so inept that they pick the worse possible time to call a strike. They only got 13% of the 20% returned ballot papers for a strike. And most workers aren't members of the union. There was little support for the strike at my council, with quite a few, including me going in as normal. It would be far better if Unision withheld the payments to the Labour party. But maybe it was a ploy to save 2 days worth of pay. After all no one will notice till a strike has been going for some weeks. Then you can never make up for the losses anyway. The trouble with a lot of council workers is that they dont know what it is like in the real world, and security of tenure must have a value. I often say to fellow workers when the winge, that there is nothing stopping them getting a better job!

Answer 9

Greedy bunch of b******s!  I work my ar$e off, and get paid less than the majority of those people.  I haven't had a pay rise for 3 years

Answer 10

No I don't think they should go on strike,  We are all in a recession so everyone should accept what is on offer and hope for better things to come.

Answer 11

if you did not know private sector workers have always had annual pay awards the public sector has not there wages have been frozen for some time now.so considering the facts a 2.4% rise is indeed a joke and therefore are forced to strike if only to compete.

if  you didnt know most recycling contracts are put out to tender and controled by the private sector workforce not council employees and yes we have the same problems

Answer 12

Over 50% of the workforce are in the public sector. Their wages are from taxpayers money. As less than 50% of the workforce are NOT in the public sector it is those who are in effect paying them.

If they do not want to work in the public sector, they can always get a 'proper job'.