Pay sector pay rise

Yes it’s good news if true. 5.5 % for teachers, defence spending to be 2.5% of GDP, the triple lock kept, the fiscal rules to be maintained, junior doctors pay to be possibly restored by the end of the parliamentary term.

Where is it going to come from?
 
Tough one for Labour this. If they agree 5.5% for nurses and teachers it needs to be fully funded.

They’d also then need to be prepared for local government staff and unions rejecting the flat rate £1,290 offer as they would (rightly) expect the same kind of rise.
 
Angus said:
Yes it’s good news if true. 5.5 % for teachers, defence spending to be 2.5% of GDP, the triple lock kept, the fiscal rules to be maintained, junior doctors pay to be possibly restored by the end of the parliamentary term.

Where is it going to come from?
Click to expand...
The magic money tree the Tories kept going shaking to line their pockets or taxing the rich / corporations effectively.
 
sherlock said:
Tough one for Labour this. If they agree 5.5% for nurses and teachers it needs to be fully funded.

They’d also then need to be prepared for local government staff and unions rejecting the flat rate £1,290 offer as they would (rightly) expect the same kind of rise.
Click to expand...
Already happened. 2/3 unions have rejected it, including unison which is the largest and has most votes on the board
 
The reality is Labour didn't have much choice. Any competent government didn't have much choice. Right wing think tanks and papers might bleat about "where is the money coming from" but public sector pay has been hammered so much over the years by the tories it's simply not sustainable to suppress it any longer. Not if we still want teachers, nurses etc.

It's essentially just part of the running costs of a functioning society. It's certainly not a "bumper pay rise" as scum rags like the telegraph are calling it.

Its actually still well below what would be fair given over a decade of pay restraint that the tories have successfully normalised. But it's a step in the right direction.
 
If they find money for pay rises for the public sector, healthcare workers, teachers, rail workers… perfect
Another group of government workers can wait for their rock solid support for the opposition
 
Angus said:
Where is it going to come from?
Click to expand...
Same place the money came from to
sherlock said:
This is really the key isn’t it?

If it’s from existing budgets it’s just continued austerity.
Click to expand...
Austerity is an economic strategy and a conscious policy decision, so I'm not sure better public sector pay it's naturally followed by (another) period of austerity.

Money is tight, obviously, and I'm sure that the government borrowing will continue to increase, as it has got decades, but the key difference is that the majority of people will now see a real tangible benefit to that, rather than COVID contracts, failed track and trace etc.
 
A government with its own bank and currency does not need to find money.

People need to stop thinking like Tories. The British government does have a money tree and it’s called the Bank of England.

Any pay rise for teachers and public sector people is justified. They’ve all effectively had a massive pay cut because of the Tory ***** austerity measures.
 
Nero said:
A government with its own bank and currency does not need to find money.

People need to stop thinking like Tories. The British government does have a money tree and it’s called the Bank of England.

Any pay rise for teachers and public sector people is justified. They’ve all effectively had a massive pay cut because of the Tory ***** austerity measures.
Click to expand...
This does miss a couple of important factors though. Printing money devalues money and causes inflation. Ultimately the pound is no better currency than tulips were in Holland when they triggered the first stock market crash.

Secondly, and probably more important. You have to work within the confines of public perception. Half the people in society have a lower than average iq (I know obvious) and they are never going to understand the nuance of a fiat economy, and to be honest you and I probably don't either.
 
5.5% is a start but that's still nowhere near where pay would be if they'd been regular normal sized increases instead of the freeze during austerity. It's also nowhere near the cost of living increases.

If they want to make public sector jobs more attractive they need to rapidly increase the base pay to 2010 levels of offset with private sector equivalents.

Time (and opportunity) to be bold.
 
Laughing said:
This does miss a couple of important factors though. Printing money devalues money and causes inflation. Ultimately the pound is no better currency than tulips were in Holland when they triggered the first stock market crash.

Secondly, and probably more important. You have to work within the confines of public perception. Half the people in society have a lower than average iq (I know obvious) and they are never going to understand the nuance of a fiat economy, and to be honest you and I probably don't either.
Click to expand...
True, but as Scote points out taxation is the balance. Pay increases to the public sector is subjected to PAYE so it is not necessarily inflationary.

Austerity has been a total disaster for Britain. I genuinely can’t believe English people allowed the Tories to get away with it for years. Public services decimated, salaries deliberately kept lower, and poor people attacked with drastic measures.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top