Teen beauty spot drinkers are ramblers, not rebels
- Dave Burrows
Day of strikes rocks Shropshire
Thursday 22nd September 2011, 2:24PM BST.
More than 1,200 Shropshire Council workers were today taking part in strike action which brought disruption to services across the county.
Leisure centres, libraries and day centres for older people and adults with learning difficulties were shut, and Shirehall was closed to the public. Members of Shropshire Unison manned picket lines at Shirehall and marched from Shrewsbury’s Abbey Foregate to the council headquarters.
Today’s action centres on a dispute with the authority over a proposed 5.4 per cent pay cut and new terms and conditions for staff.
Talks were held yesterday to try and stave off the industrial action. But both council leader Keith Barrow and Shropshire Unison branch secretary Alan James said the ‘landmark’ talks were positive.
At a full council meeting today members backed a financial strategy covering the next 10 years and outlining how millions of pounds of savings need to be made.
It came despite concerns raised by Lib Dem councillors.
Click here to read the full story in the premium 24 website.
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Oh yes I am rocked also, so it has took until now for unison reps to understand the full scale of the problem ? was it needed to be explained in picture form then?.
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well I am disgusted at the lack of communication with unison and its members !!! I wasn’t told it was on and as I work in one of the smaller departments went to work as NO one had told me not too well UNISON YOU HAVE LOST AT LEAST ONE MEMBER today
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I can’t see how these strikers are “rocking Shropshire”. Most people won’t notice that they’re on strike.
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I think you wiil when the roads arn’t gritted in the winter and the bins don’t get emptied! How short sighted can you be?
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Firstly, the bins are emptied by a private company, Veolia and secondly the road gritters will definately turn up because their overtime (yes overtime which so mny council, employees on here, insist they do not get) will probably be enough to live on.
By the way Winter Maintenance starts in October.
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How short sighted do you think we are ???
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Short sighted enough to comment on your own comment.
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I can’t see many people on here disputing it though Julian, even yourself, who normally spouts pro council propaganda…does the truth hurt?
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Roadrunner, you seem to know a great deal about when the winter maintenace starts (any experience here?), sounds as though you are bit envious about not getting the overtime payments, shame, never mind …eh?. whether bins are emptied by a private company or not is irrelevant, the binmen will be watching what happens between unison and the council regardless.
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its sad this day and age that people are still having to fight for there rights. all governments have ruined this country.what a depressing country most of us live in.
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Shropshire rocked – thats the saddest excuse of a headline ever to come out of a journalism course – you failed!
An earthquake in Shropshire would rock Shropshire (and has done). Workers striking to stop this governments poodles punishing people for bankers jollies isn’t rocking Shropshire.
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Well done Alan James, you have finally woken up to acknowledge the economic mess that the country is in (as a result of the policies adopted by the party Unison support financially). Those in the private sector have been cutting back since 2007.
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All Shropshire staff and the unions clearly understand the financial bind the Council is in. However, due process has to occur and a proper debate on the correct course of action is required. Instead, the Council has stuck it’s head in the sand and refused to discuss matters in an adult way. The only option the Council could see was to act dictatorially and press the self destruct button. Whether you agree with the alternatives proposed or not, it is the Council’s attitude to the issue which is the problem.
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And there was me thinking that we were in financial difficulties due to the greed and risk-taking of the banks – the same banks who provide more than 50% of another party’s funding.
Time you woke up to the idea that it is the wealthy who are bleeding us all dry – not the poor!
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The bankers is a completely different subject, this is ACTUALLY related to the Labour party’s inability to NOT spen taxpayers money on fatous schemes, and the rounded off by that arrogant **** Liam Byrne leaving THAT note saying ‘all the money has gone’
Can people not separate these 2 subjects and be more objective abouty the real cause of the Govt. deficit.
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Peter, I am no friend of the bankers or The Tories. The people in power whether red, blue or yellow are out for themselves. The Blair/Brown years were ‘spend today forget about tomorrow’ and Unison helped to fund them and now face their share of the consequences (apart maybe from the General Secretary, whose salary rivals that of a banker).
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I look at the pictures and then think of Jim Reeves singing a particular song, what else?….Welcome to my world…..
PS
I see Oxfam’s been doing a roaring trade
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You are a keyboard warrior aren’t you?
Without the guts to say that to their facees.
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Ooooh get you!
Keyboard Warrior, I like it, never been called that before :-)
If I was not in Sth Wales at present I certainly would tell them what I thought to their faces, it’s no big deal.
Perhaps if we did not have such virolous and unpleasant comments made about the executive staff then the same would not be heading in the opposite direction?
You only have to see the placard heading this story to see that the C.E is linked to death, is that fair?
So many questions that will no doubt doubt go unanswered in the ‘too difficult’ file.
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oh no the librarys closed what will i do!!
i think i’ll download a book direct on to my Kindle for free instead
welcome to the 21st century luddites
there is no need for any librarys in shropshire
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You may be all right with your Kindle, Austin, but not everyone can afford, or wants to read from one.
My support is with those standing up for their pay and conditions.
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austin – learn to spell libraries by spending more time reading books before you comment hey? You look really stupid otherwise
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It’s pretty low to trash someone because of spelling and punctuation. I don’t agree with the point expressed but the meaning is clear.
As far as I am aware,only books which are out of copyright are free. My last purchase (one volume) was £18.95.
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Or just renew your library book online!
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I expect you will do what you always do as I suspect that you don’t spend a lot of time in librarys (sic).
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I actually spend about an hour every other Saturday exchanging the 4 books a fortnight I read
They don’t open one day a week you know and they have embraced the online age!
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I spend about 4 hours a week at the Shrewsbury Library Archives Department doing research, I can’t get this information from the web, besides I find the people in the department most knowledgeable and only to pleased to help you in your research, wonderful people. And it’s all free. You should try it.
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Oh no the research libraries closed.
oh no the online version wants me to pay for more that 3 lines of content, each time..!
Where am I now?
Shropshire needs libraries – you already know.
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it’s not just about you and your needs
someone living on their own on a meagre pension might prefer to visit their local library
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So sad the librarys are used by young and old and if i read i read a book not a kindle the computers are used by people who have no access we had a great ref library now it’s a sham and for the person who blames labour for all this find cnn rte and greece portugal italy and if you still think the same then tony blair was more powerful then the third reich as this can’t be fought by war only bankers making the poor pay for gambles gone astray by the ultra rich.
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thank goodness that you ran out of things to say i almost could not hold my breath till the end and started going blue in the face but you are right about some things and it is a shame that the libraries are closed but at least its a weekday and wont affect too many people even though its all blair and browns fault and the unions and labour because of their stupidity selling the gold and putting us so far in debt.
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The selling of gold was not the breaking point of this country try banks hoping that housing would keep rising and lending people 125% mortgages and northern rock and co buying bad debts in the states i am no lover of brown or blair but brown has more nous in his little finger then dave and george put together.
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Any chance of a bit of punctuation? Or failing that, a translation into English?
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I was educated under thatcher and 35 in a class means punctuation was not a strong point i read things then write i don’t punctuate as most of the time my blood boils at the rubbish people write my grasp of english oral or in print is fine but what the hell if people don’t understand that this council is spending money outside shrewsbury and is a dictatorship then !!!”"”:::;;;….???/////
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You even blame the Tories for your inability to punctuate. Now i’ve seen it all.
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Good example of pointless input.
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Pot kettle.
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I’m astonished that people think libraries are only for books and bring out the Kindle argument. Modern libraries have become vital community hubs with a whole range of services. Spend a day in Oswestry Library to seeing a thriving library providing a top class service to the people of Oswestry and beyond.
For example: as well as a fine selection of books that you can also request from around the country, you can go online (free wifi), attend job clubs, children’s storytelling, family history, attend author events, hold meetings, have a workspace for school and work, regular festivals…the list goes on and on.
Oswestry’s library is much-loved and well-attended, partly because the staff are extremely knowledgeable and friendly. You cannot replace skills such as that with volunteers – that is a nonsense.
Particularly at times of economic difficulty, libraries provide an essential social glue that keeps all aspects of the community connected.
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Dead right about Oswestry library. I’m not in Oswestry much but was there briefly in summer and was hugely impressed. To lose, or even undermine, a facility like that would be tragic.
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As staff well know, if a cut has to be made then it must be made. Libraries seem pretty irrelevant nowadays no matter what bells and whistles they have:
Books, like other creative industries, should not be accessible for free.
We have the cheapest broadband in Europe; if people want internet access, then pay for it. Don’t expect it for free.
Library services – at least out of our major towns – need closing. They serve no purpose in today’s world.
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I was just thinking how smoothely everything was running today – now I know why, the Council isnlt working.
But I say to the bosses, don’t worry, sack the the ungrateful strikers and you will find plenty of people who would take their jobs with the pay cut.
Ungrateful tax-payer-employees who have had it too good for too long – welcome to the real world.
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Go on girl!! This is exactly right!!
Public sector workers have been underworked and well over paid for years!! Only problem is that when they do all get made redundent is that none of them can get jobs in the real world as no one wants them because they’re rubbish and on the whole a bunch of whiners so we’ll still end up paying for them through the benefits shelled out!!
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Beneath your trite comment lies an almost staggering level of naivety. What is this? A race to the bottom? Perhaps, instead of bemoaning a few public sector employees who are trying to retain a reasonable standard of living for themselves and their families, you should consider organising to try and improve your own conditions of employment.
The reason the country’s in the state it is has nothing to do with the public sector or the majority of the private sector and everything to do with a privileged few who’s eye watering greed and reckless pursuit of ever more fantastical amounts of wealth, heedless of the risks and the consequences to the rest of us, led to the global financial collapse.
Huge amounts of public money (for which read our future labour, our children’s future labour and their children’s future labour) was then pumped in to keep the system going. And guess what? It worked, yes markets are recovering, most portfolios and hedge funds are back to where they were, and in the words of one multi millionaire, “we’ve had a terrible year, but now we’ve almost recovered all of the value of our assets”. Well to some a terrible year might have been loosing their job, their home and their savings, finding themselves on the bread line relying on state handouts, not seeing $90 mill become $45 mill and then back to $85 mill.
So all’s well then. And the cost? Just a few hundred thousand jobs, an accessible education system and a reduction in living standards for the majority of us.
My point? It doesn’t have to be this way. Labour and capital have moved steadily away from each other since the 70’s, no prizes for guessing who’s getting the Lion’s share, There is money (future resources and future labour) available, its just how we choose to distribute it. So instead of swallowing all the divide and rule garbage about the lazy public sector dragging down the industrious private sector and doing the super rich’s job for them, why not wake up, smell the coffee, get in the real world and start to value your own labour at somewhere near its worth.
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Dear Black Sheep, I am very happy with my (self)employment conditions. I believe in a fair price for a fair job is all I ask.
These ‘poor’ public sector employees should try living on long-term benefit as so many of the unfortunate in our materialistic society are forced to do through no fault of their own. Then they might see a pay cut a reasonable.
Personally I have no sympathy for someone saying they can’t take a pay cut. It means they are not financially prudent – and that’s what’s got this country in a mess. Asia and China aren’t suffering like us. You see the country is in a financial mess because it’s run at every level by the financially incompetent.
If a pay-cut means that these people will have to make the sacrifice of cancelling their TV package, well I’m not going to cry when many people can’t afford a TV licence. These moaners need to get a grip. They don’t know the meaning of hardship.
By the way, there is no ‘Global financial collapse’ as the politicians would like us to believe – as I said China and Asia are not effected. It just the West’s financial imprudence. The credit crunch was caused by China and Asia not renewing loans as they saw the West’s financial recklessness getting worse (sub-prime lending was just a scape goat the politicians and media used to explain to the masses). Johnny Foreigner is holding all the money now that we had foolishly relied upon as an ever ending source of our materialistic lives.
It now the morning after the party and someone’s got to clean up the mess.
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Too good for too long? You are seriously mistaken.
I can assure you, people like me – front line staff – who couldn’t afford to strike today work damned hard to satisfy you Council Tax payers (and this is the thanks we get – now who is ungrateful).
Having worked in a VERY similar job in private sector, I can tell you that the slight increase in pay does not reflect the added responsibility of dealing with vulnerable people, the abuse our customers give us, possible legal implications of doing our job slightly wrong, remaining incredibly impartial, ‘targets’ which would be funny if they were not so ridiculous (for example, call centre staff cannot receive one complaint in a year). The public sector, no matter what media tittle-tattle you want to recite, is incredibly hard work.
Lets remember, David Cameron imposed a real-term pay cut last year. And Kim Ryley is forcing another through. Its a double slap in the face for hard working front line staff.
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You could always get another job if you don’t like your current one? Oh!, that’s right, there aren’t any. Be grateful you have a job and stop moaning.
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As much as I enjoy my job, bear in mind I have put in countless hours to get where I am, on the salary I am. I think that’s perfectly fair, isn’t that what you all encourage your children to do?
Of course there is disparity between salaries, there is across the globe. I get paid less than my manager, my manager gets paid less than theirs and so on… Compared to my old, similar job, I receive around £2k more (factor into this points I have raised elsewhere, and I consider myself pretty good value). Honestly, you’re issue shouldn’t be with our pay – you should be campaigning for your own pay increases, shares in your employers – that’s the way to improve life for private sector workers, not grind other sectors down.
If you think I take the pee out of any Shropshire Council Tax payer, you’re sorely mistaken. I work incredibly hard for you all, and I sincerely mean that – I fully appreciate the fact that you contribute towards my salary and I will always do my best – as will my many colleagues; but that appreciation seems not to extend back to us – at Shropshire Council we all try so hard to contribute to your lives in a positive way.
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The protest was feeble if you ask me. Lets look at this another way, most members fo the public don’t care about them striking and are more annoyed that these moaning minnies don’t appreciate that they have a job in the first place. yes it’s not nice to have a pay cut etc but then they should have been aware that by working in the public sector this was always a risk.
Don’t like the job don’t do it, there are many that would easily step into your shoes and do it.
Unison are the worst offenders for ruining this country by causing stupid protests that don’t get any results and just waste everyones time by causing annoyance.
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Come on Shropshire Star tell it as it is! I was in the public gallery during the Council debate. The financial strategy was passed through by the tories alone. Labour members were absent and the lib dems voted against.
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I do read some garbage on here!! what’s with the ‘welcome to my world’ or ‘welcome to the real world’ garbage all about??? people who are striking are in the real world, they have bills to pay, mortgage to pay etc. They are standing up for their rights rather than cower behind their desk saying ‘ yes sir three bags full sir’ if anyone has poor pay, conditions, hours worked or poor/non existance pension scheme then sort it out and don’t knock people for protecting theirs! there was a time when the working looked out for each other. don’t be took in my the governments ‘ we are all in this together’ rubbish.
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And then pick up your P45 on the way out!
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why bother leaving notes who reads them ??? anyone ever had a constructive outcome from a left message ?????
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It could be worse,imagine if Status Qou were back in the county?
Would the headline read ….
Day of rock strikes Shropshire
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Ungrateful Strikers !!
We were not just striking about money. !! I work in community services with Adults with leaning dissabilities. This has a knock on effect on them.
Services are being cut..centers are being closed..their facilities are being taken away. Who is out there voicing their opinions ???
If anyone is out there wishing they could work there in fact are jobs out there most people sadly are just too picky.
I have never been out of work in my life and I am fast approaching my 60th year. To my knowledge there has been no mention of ‘not liking the job’ its because we love our jobs that we think they are worth fighting for.
I am just glad that I havent been brought up being believing it’s ok to sit at home and collect benefit’s paid for by ungrateful strikers and then have the brass neck to insult them.
Perhaps before people sit in judgement they could get the whole picture.
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The Shropshire Star has recently been reporting on wasted resources amounting to a vast amount of taxpayers money eg: Sculpture in Shrewsbury, consultants fees, big payouts for ‘fat cats’, you should ask people to report any others they know of, the public would be astounded. Nationally the Fire Control Centres nine of them that are now obsolete, never used, there is also the unpaid council tax by dodgers including businesses,unused vehicles and equipment that are in Council run properties that managers and auditors are unaware of their existence. You should calculate these amounts and you may find that is where the £70million + has vanished to, someone is responsible for all of this, heads should roll for the inept control of tax payers hard earned money.
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Unfortunately, the people responsible for the wasted money you quote was the last Labour Government. Hence, their heads are no longer on the chopping block but people like to blame someone, so they blame the current Government.
What short memories people have!
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In the private sector we dont get pensions so they shouldn?
Isnt that a bit like saying in the voluntary sector people dont get paid so they shouldnt?
lets have no race to the bottom thank you
pensions for all will be good for all, lets make sure EVERYONE has good provision not just the MPs and the bankers who all have final salary pensions worth millions
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The sad reality is that there have to be sacrifices because there is limited money available to the council. If it is not pay and benefits, then it will be a cull on services (and probably jobs will go). So what is the right answer to the financial problem this country is in? If it helps ease the burden, I work in the private sector and faced a similar reduction in my pay 3 years ago and it has remained frozen ever since: I was one of the lucky ones, because others lost there jobs. I would just be grateful that you have jobs (many have not and instead of generating support (if that is your aim) you are stirring anger with those people).
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Well if they prefer they can get £48 a week on the dole queue!
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so pleased to see some real energy still there, like if we did half as much as the french do we would never get treated like this and we’d all have a decent pension, hats off to the marchers, very brave, i was tooting my horn for you as i drove my and i am glad to see some people standing up to be counted and resisting cuts to our services
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Well done con-dems. You’ve perfected the art of divide and rule!
Instead of seeing a situation where we have
low paid workers fighting extremely well paid bosses for their standards of living, we have a private/public sector battle where (unfortunately), it seems to be predominately the low paid private sector workers celebrating the ‘levelling-down’ of pay and conditions in the public sector.
Didn’t anyone notice that the SECOND report on BBC Midlands news featured a Umison spokesperson speaking in defence of the EON (private sector} workers. Probably all of us are served by both the private and public sectors and it is sad to see such vicious attacks between them – whichever way they go.
Lord Digby Jones is a disgace. I’m fine with those who wish to ‘fly the flag’ for Employers, but to suggest that public sector Employees need to ‘wake up and smell the coffee’ is not only a very tired old cliche, but an insult to the many hard-working and dedicated employees in the public sector.
Well done Alan (James) and well done those who fight on behalf of ‘workers’ in ANY sector of employment.
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Yep,I agree. When I I worked in the public sector (now self employed) I regularly ‘woke up and smelled the coffee’ when writing lectures at 3am or getting to my desk at 6am to do the same. Please, others, don’t tell me he public sector is easy money.
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Hear, hear! Fantastic comment!
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Neither myself nor my work colleagues even realised they were on strike so that wasn’t exactly effective.
Mind you, we were too busy earning the wage we’re thankful to get!
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after watching question time last night, one person came up with the ideal solution, lets all pull together to get out of this mess, forget party politics, its a world wide recession. If the tories had been in power for ten plus years we would have still had a recession. I think the best option for all of this is to increase our taxes, so that we all share the burden. No need for pay or job cuts.
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I don’t think your idea will be welcome as people are already taxed to the hilt. The real answer is prudent housekeeping.
Unfortunately, noone, that includes both the public and private sector, like this.
Hence the strikes, disputes and tit-for-tat comments which will continue for the forseeable future.
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Woody, I think the only real answer is growth, and pay cuts aren’t the way to get that because they lead to further suppression of demand. That’s without going into the whole point about going back on contracts, as expressed by Arthur, amongst others.
I do agree about ‘prudent housekeeping’ – though somehow the words ‘stable’, ‘door’, ‘horse’ and ‘bolted’ come to mind. It’s a pity the bankers, speculators, private debtors and the rest, along with their friends in government who didn’t bother to regulate them, didn’t attach some value to that very concept years ago.
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dare has a point with “raise taxes” that is what the answer to many of the problems are.
The facts however are, here in the UK the “i am alright jack” rules, and is evident and very clear that this is the case in all sectors of British life.
We can see it with i am being stuffed here in the private sector so you can be in the public sector.
We can see the nature of people with the solar panel debate last week i have not got them so why should a council tenant .
It is this attitude , that gives ammunition to a party that knows in the UK it is all very easy in fact child’s play to divide and conquer the British people of 2011 .
What has happened here in UK is very sad.
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Ok guys reality check – I have worked for the council for 10 years – I am not on a fat cat wage and took a wage cut to work for the council as I wanted to make a difference to my local community and help those less well off and less able to cope independently than myself, I have paid into the pension scheme with the expectation that I may have something to live on when I retire – again it will not a massive pension to live on, if I ever get one, with the proposed changes to the terms and conditions and the increased pension contributions my wages will be significantly cut to the point where I am unsure if I am going to be able to pay my mortgage and be able to feed and clothe my children.I am not being dramatic – this is the reality of the changes being imposed on us. At the council we get such bad press – but we are there to provide a service to the people of shropshire and we work hard to try and achieve this – say what you like about those at the top but us at the coalface our doing absolute best with less and less resources, a bit of solidarity would be nice to think they maybe there is a little bit of appreciation out there for what we do – not that it will stop us if there isn’t – as we will keep on doing our best for shropshire residents anyway
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The well worn line that council workers should be ‘grateful to have a job’ makes absoulutely no sense.
A job isn’t a charitable handout, it’s a contract between an employer and an employee.
If one party wants to alter that contract then they should negotiate a new arrangement with the other party.
What cannot and should not be tolerated is an employer issuing letters threatening the employee to agree to wage cuts and other contractual changes or face redundancy without compensation.
This is both legally dubious and morally reprehsensible.
Yet the council knows that taking legal action individually is well beyond the financial means of its employees, and that any legal challenge by Unison could take years.
People can’t exist on thin air while waiting for a slow legal wheels to turn.
If I agree a fee with a mechanic to fix my car, or a builder to improve my house, should that private sector worker feel ‘grateful’ if I renege on this contract and pay him less than we originally agreed?
Of course not, so where’s the difference?
The wages and pensions of these people has not caused the economic crisis (which the Tories are now describing as ‘global’, having got the desired mileage from ‘it’s all Labour’s fault line).
Two-thirds of local government workers, of earn less than £18,000. The perception they’re all comfortably off is plainly mistaken.
The deficit is due to the massive drop in tax receipts and rise in benefits payments which resulted from the bank-triggered recession.
They are not separate. Before the crisis we had the second lowest deficit of the G7 countries.
In fact, until the financial crisis of 2008 the Tories were pledging to stick to Labour’s spending plans.
And they certainly didn’t want to restrain the banks! Mr Cameron gave a speech in 2007 i which he showered them with glowing praise!
I don’t know why unions like Unison continue to fund Labour, when each successive leader takes the money yet makes a point of kicking them in order to appease the right wing.
Taken to its logical conclusion the ‘I’d do that job for less’ argument, would result in the impoverishment of everyone other than the fat cats at the top of government and business.
Darel says we should all pay more tax. But if the massive amounts of tax evaded and avoided – including billions from firms like Serco and Capita, to whom council’s outsource work – were collected, we wouldn’t have to.
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You make earning less than £18000 sound like a pittance.
£18000/ 52 weeks/ 37.5 hours per week = hourly rate of £9.23………the now legendary ‘living wage’ in anyone’s book.
Its all very well whining about how much they get paid, just for a change give people the full facts, like how many hours they work for these paltry sums, and if possible how many actual council employees are on the minimum wage as an hourly rate.
I wait with baited breath for the facts and figures.
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lucking at the spillin inn this storie, who can they justifi not harvin lybraris
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2 rite innit
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Shat uuuuuuup
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If the councils didn’t employ several people to do the same job (a friend who works for the council told me that she’s one of 3 doing exactly the same thing they’re just called differant positions) then there wouldn’t be any reason for job/pay cuts.
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Yes we have all heard these ones did you make it up?
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lets have less war war and more jaw jaw
negotiate! both of you! like grown ups!
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Lib-Lab-Con – All the same, all to blame.
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harsh for people who do caring jobs to treat like this, these people work for the public not for profit they have values i respect
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What is it about this country that there is so little solidarity with or sympathy for other people? If you work in a sector where you are badly treated and underpaid and have no pension, that means there is something wrong with YOUR job, not that there is something wrong with other people’s better jobs. Yours should be like theres, not vice versa. If they have better terms, conditions, etc. maybe that is something you should try to get by standing up for yourself or organising with other people.
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Round of applause.
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Exactly! It is very sad that so many private sector employees are treated so badly, but maybe if their Union had stood up for them better they might not be in the mess they are in anyway.
What is wrong with making a stand against ‘the man’? People have a right to stand up for themselves when they are being oppressed and treated like dirt by their employer, that’s why people join Unions. We are supposed to be living in a democracy, and this ridiculous attitude of ‘they deserve everything they get’ is not useful to anyone – private or public sector.
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All well & good if the company you work for allows you to join a Union, I’ve never worked for a company that lets you, what is the answer then? not work?
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Johnny, you have a legal right to join a union. Every working person in the country does. You could join a general union like Unite or GMB.
Your employer may refuse to ‘recognise’ the union when it comes to pay negotiation etc, but if they act illegally, the union can help advise you and usually help you financially with taking legal action.
If you and your fellow workers joined a union, you could go on strike provided your union complies with the legally required balloting and notifying procedures.
I appreciate it is harder for people in the private sector to take action, particularly if you’re part of a small workforce, but it is possible.
You do have the same rights as workers in the public sector.
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JONNY, Take a tip from an 70 year old who spent his life in engineering. Don’t join a union,your subs go to pay for the union fat cats that earn as much as the Prime Minister.They are very good at saying “all out”, but they don’t lose a penny.If you are good at your job and think that you are worth more money, then go and ask your manager. Simple.
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unfortunately Arther, if you even consider joining a union some fims will sack you. We all know its illegal, immoral whatever but it goes on. they will just make an excuse to get rid of you, and will even take the penalty. So no we all can’t join unions.
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Johnny you will hear a lot of opinions like John Jones but you can bet your bottom dollar he never turned down a rise negotiated by the unions?
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Good grief!
What has happened to grammar, punctuation and spelling in Shropshire?
I hope these commentators aren’t in education or the civil service.
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Well said, Stephen.
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My bins were emptied today and thats all I get from the council for my four figures a year…
Let’s hope all these strike days carry on and I can get a decrease with the money saved!!
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Wow ! You must live off the map.
No schools, streetlights, libraries, road repairs, strett cleaning, planning , environmental health, food safety, care of the elderly etc etc.
I’d complain Andy.
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What an ill-informed comment. Me, me, me. There is so much more council tax pays for.
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If your house burnt down would you expect a fire engine to turn up or would you be happy with no service because someone else wants a low tax bill and doesn’t want to pay for something they don’t use? It’s not their house, is it, why should they pay for it?
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I appreciate that there are benefits to working in the public sector, but to say that we are all lazy, incompetent or a waste of money is plain offensive.
I work for the council and had to do 10 years of higher education and industry training to be sufficiently qualified and experienced to do my job properly.
I now work over 200 hours a month for just over £1200 after tax. It doesn’t take a genius to work out how much unpaid work I do for the people of Shropshire because I care about my job. I don’t agree with the way the council is treating its staff, BUT I didn’t strike on Thursday because I had made commitments to the community that I did not want to break.
And yes I have worked in the private sector, and although, the work was not as rewarding it was better paid. The quality of work produced by my colleagues in the private sector was nowhere near as good as my colleagues now. Why? Because they were driven by profit, not performance and were not accountable to the public for everything they do.
If I left my job I am sure there are plenty of unemployed people who would happily take it. The question is how many would have the ability and qualifications to do it?
In conclusion please don’t tar everyone with the same brush. There are over 4000 people working for the council and some of us work dam hard.
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Shame on them, they are loony lefties
they ruin this country with their rediculous wage demands we will never be great britain again whilst the unions have so much power
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If these lefty layabouts put as much time into fixing pot holes as they do plotting anti government strikes, i would not begrudge them their £40,000 per annum salaries
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I work for the council and am not even on half that amount…. i understand this is the view of many that we are all earning a high wage but us on the bottom of scale really are not…
I am not happy with the pay cut at all but instead of striking i have found a new job and handed in my notice :(
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I was once told a story 2 1/2 years ago about someone who went for an interview at Shropshire Council and was told that people that were unemployed were un-employable! What goes around comes around!!!!
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The great problems facing this country is not caused by one problem but by many, the three prominent reasons as I see it is our lack of manufacturing, the reckless spending over spending over the last ten years or so and our top heavy public sector.
Unfortunately we must cut down heavily on the numbers in the public sector, some of the services we must do without,many in the public service will have to work 5% harder to keep some from going,Prudent spending on all government department etc.
Greater investment and incentives for new industries to emerge which will take up some of those losing there jobs.The public must increase there purchase of British made goods and then we should be able to see a little light at the end of the tunnel.
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No, the main problem is one of international capital in crisis.
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rocked about as soft as status quo!
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good on them for resisting tory cuts
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Protest all you want a pay cut is coming and so please don’t waste your time and continue to disrupt things as well.
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