A fair few lucky people are getting decent pay rises according to the three year pay offer which is being imposed later this month, but consider people who are on the max of their scale. The figures below show that they are receiving well short of inflation over these three years.
An EO on max currently receives £23510 per annum. At the end of the three year deal they will be on £24230. Yet if the rise is inflation proofed they would be on £26445. That is a loss of £2215pa or £185 per month
Similarly an AO on max will be on £1626 per annum less in 2009 than they would be if the rise was inflation proofed. That equates to £135 a month. It's hardly fair is it?
Of course this also has a massive effect on your pension too. If we take an EO currently on max who will retire in 2009 with 40 years service, their pension would be £13223 per annum with a lump sum of £39669 if the rise was inflation proofed. However this offer promises them £12115 pa and £36345 lump sum.
That's a massive loss of £1108 per year and £3324 lump sum. If that member of staff lives to just 80, their pension loss over those twenty years would be £22160 as a minimum.
Does anybody really believe this pay offer is the best that can be done for our long serving respected staff? They are basically going to be forced to have enormously reduced standards of living for the rest of their lives.
Vote YES to strike action and YES to action short of a strike.
6 comments:
i am sorry, but having just read the results of the pay ballot.
Basically 66% of a 33% turnout is not in my opinion a mandate to strike. I am a long serving member of staff 33 years and will now in three years achieve the maximum of the scale. i accept the arguments regarding the lowering of the maximum, but in 3 years i could retire with a pension based on £3000 more than i am on now. How can i refuse that?
This is the first time in many years that i am going to get a reasonable deal.
In previous years i have bemoaned my pay deal to people on max only to hear the reply whilst i am sorry for you there is little i can do. The boot is on the other foot this time, and i feel for those not getting as big a pay rise than me, however there is little i can do, and you are earning £3000 approx more than me.
I have to reply to old toad. I have been on max for many years. This has not stopped me rejecting every pay offer management have teased me with. I have stood on the picket line not only for myself but all those poor souls who came after me and have waited a lifetime to reach the pinnacle of pay that is the maximum. I hope old toad enjoys his new status sitting on the big lily pad on top of the Jobcentre pond. Sadly, he may find that his feet start getting wet as the lily pad sinks below the rate of inflation. Max will no longer keep you afloat.
Itake huberts comments with the credit they deserve,and whilst accepting that the lily pad may sink,at the moment it is still growing and will be for the next three years, therefore am happy to sit on it catching flies a while longer. When the time comes to jump off i will.
I appreciate him manning the picket line for me, i to have manned picket lines in the past but have become more disillusioned with going on strike over pay. In my opinion any small improvement just about covers the lost pay for unauthorised leave.
Old Toad, you seem to be critical of those who have not gone out on strike in the past because the pay offer was good for them, but bad for colleagues. Now you seem to be proposing to do the same yourself?!?!?
Like you I wish that more members had voted. But to say that this isn't a mandate is absurd. No government since World War Two has managed to get over 50% of the total votes cast, let alone of the adult population. At the last election only 22% of those eligible to vote backed Labour. Does that mean the result should be ignored?
And if only 10% of members voted against strike action, is that really a convincing argument against fighting for better conditions and wages for ALL our members?
We must be careful not to gild the lily
John,
I am not critical of those people who have not gone on strike in the past. i was merely voicing my own disillusionment with going on strike for pay in the past. Yes we may get an improved offer, but it will still be peanuts, and in the past any small improvement has been met by the union saying its the best we will get so we should accept it. Overtime bans are in my opinion a better option as long as those who agree to an overtime ban dont try to catch up afterwards.
i do have sympathy for those who have had a derisory imposition of a pay rise. Believe me i really do.
In respect of your last comment about percentages, yes i agree you are correct, buta blog dated 26 november is in my opinion a tad misleading.
I will leave it at that. I have not yet decided whether to strike or not and possibly wont do until thurs am.
By the way, can i congratulate the union on this pcs blog page because it does allow us to comment freely. Ok i may have been a bit of a devils advocate at times, but only because i think we should be allowed to voice our opinions, and you do allow this. thanks to everyone concerned.
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