On Wednesday last week I went into the city to primarily photograph the public workers on striker. Standing on the sidelines I caught sight of a friend, striking, who works as a teacher, he called me over and before I knew it I was in the middle of the procession.
It was all very thrilling afterwards I was pumped up with equal measure of anger and sympathy for those public workers having their pensions cut.
Later in the day I visited my dad. We sat together watching the local news as I wondered if they might have captured my face within the multitude. My father was defiantly saying the strikes were completely pointless and would achieve nothing. Even though I knew inside he was correct, I argued against his words, saddened that my father appeared to have just given up. This futility wasn't personal though, he had every sympathy for the workers, he just didn't accept that the status quo would ever change.
It's taken me several days to process the conversation we had. Did I agree that nothing changes? I suppose in the end yes. but then the next question was was inevitable.. Does that mean we give up trying to change? Do we put trust into those politicians when they've let us down so many times before?
There has been so much talk this week about democracy. "It's our democratic right to strike" say the strikers.. correct of course but on the other side "how selfish of those strikers to withdraw their vital rolls from society in this time of need!" Every MP saying that now was not the right time to strike, slamming union members for taking this action..
On Thursday I watched Question Time and one audience member asked "When is it ever the right time to strike?" There is never a correct time I guess, isn't that the point?
My dad said that the strikers may have the public support now, but if the strikes went on and rubbish was piling up from bins left uncollected - that support would quickly ebb away. Is that all it takes I wondered? a few bins of uncollected rubbish for our democracy to fall? As much as I didn't want to accept that as true, I could believe it not to be the case.
On the BBC's More or Less radio show this week they examined claims made by the government and by the unions regarding pension pay outs..
The government claimed that their new proposals would see an increase to £21k a year in pension of a teacher. The unions claimed that there would be a drop to £4k and most pensions were not gold-plated! Such a massive difference prompted the statistics program to look into it. The research found that the government figures where based on a teacher who started work at 25 and worked until he was 68, never changed jobs, never took any time off and constantly paid into his pension the new amount which includes the 3% increase. By contrast the unions took an average part time teacher who had taken several different jobs over her career and worked until the same time. It's clear that teachers don't all start at the age of 25 and work continually until their 68. Mostly that's impractical to do. Any parent who's had a teenager will know that managing 30 of them you need to be able to be strong, fit and agile.. not many 68 years olds are that.. The unions figure were also incorrect as not all teachers are part time.
Both figures were incorrect and it's actually impossible to know what an average person will take from their pension because it depends on their circumstances. One thing is clear though, if the deductions become so high many of the lower paid policy holders will withdraw their policy. Then there will be fewer lower paid policy holders than higher paid workers. This will not fair well for the remaining policy holders who will have to pay even more to make it sustainable.
I didn't pay into a pension.
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| Knowledge is Life |
Later in the day I visited my dad. We sat together watching the local news as I wondered if they might have captured my face within the multitude. My father was defiantly saying the strikes were completely pointless and would achieve nothing. Even though I knew inside he was correct, I argued against his words, saddened that my father appeared to have just given up. This futility wasn't personal though, he had every sympathy for the workers, he just didn't accept that the status quo would ever change.
It's taken me several days to process the conversation we had. Did I agree that nothing changes? I suppose in the end yes. but then the next question was was inevitable.. Does that mean we give up trying to change? Do we put trust into those politicians when they've let us down so many times before?
There has been so much talk this week about democracy. "It's our democratic right to strike" say the strikers.. correct of course but on the other side "how selfish of those strikers to withdraw their vital rolls from society in this time of need!" Every MP saying that now was not the right time to strike, slamming union members for taking this action..
On Thursday I watched Question Time and one audience member asked "When is it ever the right time to strike?" There is never a correct time I guess, isn't that the point?
My dad said that the strikers may have the public support now, but if the strikes went on and rubbish was piling up from bins left uncollected - that support would quickly ebb away. Is that all it takes I wondered? a few bins of uncollected rubbish for our democracy to fall? As much as I didn't want to accept that as true, I could believe it not to be the case.
On the BBC's More or Less radio show this week they examined claims made by the government and by the unions regarding pension pay outs..
The government claimed that their new proposals would see an increase to £21k a year in pension of a teacher. The unions claimed that there would be a drop to £4k and most pensions were not gold-plated! Such a massive difference prompted the statistics program to look into it. The research found that the government figures where based on a teacher who started work at 25 and worked until he was 68, never changed jobs, never took any time off and constantly paid into his pension the new amount which includes the 3% increase. By contrast the unions took an average part time teacher who had taken several different jobs over her career and worked until the same time. It's clear that teachers don't all start at the age of 25 and work continually until their 68. Mostly that's impractical to do. Any parent who's had a teenager will know that managing 30 of them you need to be able to be strong, fit and agile.. not many 68 years olds are that.. The unions figure were also incorrect as not all teachers are part time.
Both figures were incorrect and it's actually impossible to know what an average person will take from their pension because it depends on their circumstances. One thing is clear though, if the deductions become so high many of the lower paid policy holders will withdraw their policy. Then there will be fewer lower paid policy holders than higher paid workers. This will not fair well for the remaining policy holders who will have to pay even more to make it sustainable.
I didn't pay into a pension.
great picture! It totally sums up the day as you describe it.
ReplyDeleteAWTM.