Private Sector staff yet to get a pay cut(will it be easier to implement now?)

gazzer

Now that the pension levy has been announced and with the amount of people in the private sector taking pay cuts do you reckon we are now going to see pay cuts been implented in areas of the private sector where it hasnt yet happened and my not warrant a pay cut(i.e businesses not in trouble)?

What I am getting at is that none of my family or friends in the private sector have taken a pay cut or lost a job. They all seem to be pretty confidant that things are good and going to stay that way. However do you think that employers will now turn around and try to impose pay cuts (using the fact that other people are now taking pay cuts and paying a pension levy).

seamus

No, I don't think so. It doesn't make sense for an employer to cut pay unless they're actually in trouble. Your employees know if you're in trouble, so if you try to say, "Well, I know that you've been run off your feet with work, but would you mind taking a 10% drop?", you're just going to turn a good quality productive wokrforce into a resentful one and you're going to lose most of your best people.

I also find it hard to understand people who are now calling on the government to "force" a 10% drop in pay in the private sector. If private sector pay drops, then so does PAYE revenue, as well as PRSI, VAT, and so forth. It works in the public sector because the wages come from the taxpayer, so there's still a net gain (the wages reclaimed are > than the PAYE lost). If a business needs to cut its wage bill, then it will. It doesn't need the government to help it.

EL_Loco

people are being let go, never mind being offered a pay cut. Some people have taken a pay cut, some have taken a P45.

probably easier for a company to sack somone and not have to pay insurance and pension rather than keeping everyone on board and continuing with those contribuations.

It's not like the private sector is being shy in letting people go. look at the unemployment statistics.

Edit: you may see some employers taking the chance to cut wages with a "it has to be done" approach, time will tell i suppose.

oh and your title should be "private sector people I know....." just a lucky/in the minority group of people you happen to know.

NewDubliner

EL_Loco wrote: »

people are being let go, never mind being offered a pay cut. Some people have taken a pay cut, some have taken a P45.

A friend of mine works in one of the CS IT departments. They got clearance to hire people recruited some months ago and sent out offers quite recently.

Of the successful candidates, 60% turned down the job offers.

nesf

Not really, the justification for pay cuts in the private sector comes from the economic downturn and that reality is there regardless of what happens with the public service. The converse is also true, during a downturn a company that can avoid cutting pay is a company with very loyal and hard working employees which is worth quite a bit in many industries.

Scofflaw

seamus wrote: »

No, I don't think so. It doesn't make sense for an employer to cut pay unless they're actually in trouble. Your employees know if you're in trouble, so if you try to say, "Well, I know that you've been run off your feet with work, but would you mind taking a 10% drop?", you're just going to turn a good quality productive wokrforce into a resentful one and you're going to lose most of your best people.

I also find it hard to understand people who are now calling on the government to "force" a 10% drop in pay in the private sector. If private sector pay drops, then so does PAYE revenue, as well as PRSI, VAT, and so forth. It works in the public sector because the wages come from the taxpayer, so there's still a net gain (the wages reclaimed are > than the PAYE lost). If a business needs to cut its wage bill, then it will. It doesn't need the government to help it.

I'm not sure the government even has the ability to do it. The government doesn't set private sector wages - are people perhaps unaware of this?

cordially,
Scofflaw

SkepticOne

NewDubliner wrote: »

A friend of mine works in one of the CS IT departments. They got clearance to hire people recruited some months ago and sent out offers quite recently.

Of the successful candidates, 60% turned down the job offers.

I would imagine, even in the current downturn, that if you want to recruit IT staff you need to do so shortly after selecting them, not months later, otherwise they will have moved on to other jobs. This may change as the situation deteriorates.

DublinWriter

A lot of self-employed in the private sector (myself included) have taken pay cuts of between 5% and 10% on client work this year.

I don't know if you've noticed, but 1000's of people are losing their jobs here on a weekly basis in the private sector.

BroomBurner

SkepticOne wrote: »

I would imagine, even in the current downturn, that if you want to recruit IT staff you need to do so shortly after selecting them, not months later, otherwise they will have moved on to other jobs. This may change as the situation deteriorates.

That's a moot point, tbh. If the workers were worried in the here and now about job security, etc., they would not be turning down the CS position.

murphaph

When you take the private sector as a whole it has taken a massive pay cut....hence tax revenues are down so dramatically. A lost job is the same as a 100% pay cut.

I believe Ericsson's announcement today is a 'let's take advantage of this recession' one though and many more will follow.

Yet the public sector unions want to strike. I'll go in and boo and jeer any public servants who have the nerve to strike or protest I swear I will.

BroomBurner

murphaph wrote: »

Yet the public sector unions want to strike. I'll go in and boo and jeer any public servants who have the nerve to strike or protest I swear I will.

Yeah, sure you will. See ya on the news on Valentine's Day then, shall we?

irish_bob

murphaph wrote: »

When you take the private sector as a whole it has taken a massive pay cut....hence tax revenues are down so dramatically. A lost job is the same as a 100% pay cut.

I believe Ericsson's announcement today is a 'let's take advantage of this recession' one though and many more will follow.

Yet the public sector unions want to strike. I'll go in and boo and jeer any public servants who have the nerve to strike or protest I swear I will.

is that all , i intend bringing sack fulls of rancid tomatoes with me , theese people have no shame whatsoever

LookingFor

The government doesn't employ people in the private sector. It's not up to them to decide on private sector pay cuts. Companies will make their own individual decisions depending on their own needs - and they are, clearly, every day doing so now.

If you're employed by the government, your renumeration is subject to the health of the government's finances, just as a private sector employes renumeration AND job security are linked to their company's financial health.

Public sector employees baying for private sector blood are barking up the wrong tree, boxing with shadows. It's like Erricsson employees today, for example, wondering why Motorola employees don't get laid off or have pay cuts, and claiming how it's not fair that they aren't. It's really childish. The private sector is not their enemy.

murphaph

LookingFor wrote: »

The private sector is not their enemy.

Indeed. It's the private sector that pays their secure wages.

SkepticOne

I don't think a lot of them have fully realised this yet. A decimated private sector means no money for the public sector. The private sector needs to be stimuated not further burdened with higher taxes to pay for pensions and security that they themselves can only dream of.

LookingFor

It's poor dears like that lady interviewed on the Six One at the Impact meeting that get me annoyed about this. Asking what the private sector are going to do now..

I mean, she looked like a reasonably intelligent lady..not young and naive by any means. Yet she was trotting out these memes. I'm wondering who it is among them that's stirring that sentiment. The unions have a responsibility there, I think.

They're like kids who cry when their mommy takes a toy away and someone else's mommy doesn't. Except, really, the other mommies are! And in arguably a much more devestating way for those affected.

SkepticOne

I think also for many they will have been so long out of touch with the real world that they can't really get their head around the fact that money has to come from somewhere. It has to come from profits in the private sector which are then taxed. The fact that they are being asked to contribute a bit more towards their pension (though they still get far better than anyone else) is because the private sector has already taken a hit.

NewDubliner

murphaph wrote: »

Indeed. It's the private sector that pays their secure wages.

Which they spend buying private-sector goods and services at inflated prices.

gnxx

Most private companies do a real strange thing called planning.

A number of private companies started pay freeze and cutback programmes in late 2007.

gurramok

Including mine. A few have been let go in company i work for, i was lucky to be refused redundancy else i be drawing the dole while looking for one of those scarce private sector jobs.
Wonder how many public sector depts have had redundancy programmes for full-time permo employees? (note: permo, not contract/temps etc)

murphaph

NewDubliner wrote: »

Which they spend buying private-sector goods and services at inflated prices.

Lol. You absolutely must be public sector to come out with that one. I work for a private sector retailer. I don't set the prices. I don't even get a discount from my own employer. Fair enough. I have to pay exactly the same as you if we both buy something from my employer. With me so far?

Now....I have no choice but to pay your wages but you do have a choice whether or not to buy from my employer. I have no choice but to use your dept. if I need to but you can shop somewhere else. See the difference there?

I'll sum up for you: In the private sector there is competition. You are free to shop around and if my employer doesn't offer you the best value, shop elsewhere and if enough people feel the same, we will go out of business and I will be on €210 a week but if your dept. doesn't provide value for money.....you keep your job anyway and the private sector employees and companies continue to pay your wages.

I shouldn't have to explain this stuff. This country, like any capitalist country, lives or dies by the private sector.

NewDubliner

murphaph wrote: »

I'll sum up for you: In the private sector there is competition..

There is the appearance of competition. There is an illusion of choice.

The public sector and the private sector are organs of the same economic body. If the private sector is the heart pumping money around, the public sector is the liver, providing vital services.

seamus

NewDubliner wrote: »

The public sector and the private sector are organs of the same economic body. If the private sector is the heart pumping money around, the public sector is the liver, providing vital services.

People can survive with only a portion of their liver intact.

I've never heard of anyone surviving on half a heart.

SkepticOne

NewDubliner wrote: »

The public sector and the private sector are organs of the same economic body. If the private sector is the heart pumping money around, the public sector is the liver, providing vital services.

To understand the relationship between the public service and the rest of society the clue is in the name: public service. They are there to serve wider society. Their position in society is one of subservience. Note that there is no disrespect involved in this. There is nothing wrong with being a servant. Problems occur, however, when the servant forgets his role and starts thinking he is the master. This is what has happend in recent years in Ireland and has brought us to the present crisis. The problem is due to lack of leadership from our politicians. The solution will be painful for all concerned.

irish_bob

SkepticOne wrote: »

To understand the relationship between the public service and the rest of society the clue is in the name: public service. They are there to serve wider society. Their position in society is one of subservience. Note that there is no disrespect involved in this. There is nothing wrong with being a servant. Problems occur, however, when the servant forgets his role and starts thinking he is the master. This is what has happend in recent years in Ireland and has brought us to the present crisis. The problem is due to lack of leadership from our politicians. The solution will be painful for all concerned.

+1 times a thousand

ive yet to meet a public sector workers who didnt have a superior attitude about them , to me the term public servant has become an oxy moron

ednwireland

gazzer wrote: »

Now that the pension levy has been announced and with the amount of people in the private sector taking pay cuts do you reckon we are now going to see pay cuts been implented in areas of the private sector where it hasnt yet happened and my not warrant a pay cut(i.e businesses not in trouble)?

What I am getting at is that none of my family or friends in the private sector have taken a pay cut or lost a job. They all seem to be pretty confidant that things are good and going to stay that way. However do you think that employers will now turn around and try to impose pay cuts (using the fact that other people are now taking pay cuts and paying a pension levy).

pardon - i dont have a pension (cant afford one) ran my oiwn company for several years as a sole trader my turnover dropped 50% in 2007. i was offered a full time position in april 08 i am now on a 3 day week which i beleive is a 2/5ths pay cut (i still have to cover work whilst i am off) i am trying to ensure that i can get the work done so my customers increase their licensing numbers so i can get back to a 5 day week. i dont see too many planning officers being laid off in councils. an architects i know has gone from 11 staff to 2 fulltime and 2 part time. how much of a pay cut is that.
just remeber ALL the public sector wages has to come form taxes levied on the private sector it doesnt come from anywhere else. the public sector tax take is just money being moved around, remember that.
i left home at 4:30 on monday morning and finished work at 2 the following morning, i was on site at 8 am the following morning left got on a flight home at 11 pm that night in work at 9am the following morning no overtime no extra pay no travelling time. but i may have secured a contract for the company worth it - yes

jimmmy

gazzer wrote: »

What I am getting at is that none of my family or friends in the private sector have taken a pay cut or lost a job. .

Wages / perks / pensions are generally not as high in the private sector as the public sector, across the 26 counties.
Most private sector peiople I know have suffered a drop a take home pay....those still in jobs that is. Some self employed people are making little or nothing + cannot go on the dole like an employed person can.

doncarlos

SkepticOne wrote: »

I think also for many they will have been so long out of touch with the real world that they can't really get their head around the fact that money has to come from somewhere. It has to come from profits in the private sector which are then taxed.

The fact that they are being asked to contribute a bit more towards their pension (though they still get far better than anyone else)

It is only a good pension if you remain in the private sector for the full or close to the 40years. A friend of mine in the banking sector gets 66% of his final wage rather than the 50% the civil service get for 40 years service (1/40th of 50% per year of service. I am paying the same amount per month as him. I also started a private pension too as the pension i would have gotten at retirement age was only €100 per week more than the state pension.

SkepticOne wrote: »

is because the private sector has already taken a hit.

SOME people in they private sector have taken a hit. Many have not. ALL members of private sector are getting this levy.

I'm not arguing that there was no need for a pay cut of some description but i think the structure of the levy is grossly unfair. I am earning under 28k a year and will be paying the same % as some people in the private sector who are on four times my wages when you factor in the tax.

SkepticOne

doncarlos wrote: »

It is only a good pension if you remain in the private sector for the full or close to the 40years. A friend of mine in the banking sector gets 66% of his final wage rather than the 50% the civil service get for 40 years service (1/40th of 50% per year of service. I am paying the same amount per month as him. I also started a private pension too as the pension i would have gotten at retirement age was only €100 per week more than the state pension.

Defined benefit pensions in the private sector are extremely rare. Defined contribution is the norm. You can't buy the sort of thing that the civil service get on the open market because if you could it would have to be ludicrously expensive to cover the risk. What civil servants are being asked to contribute even with the levy is still only a fraction of what it really costs.

holly1

It looks to me like its gotten to the stage where its Public V Private or Private V Public(which everway you like).At a time like this it should be all for one and one for all,after all we are all trying to protect our jobs and livelyhoods.Its a very difficult time for the Nation and we are all trying to survive.United we stand Divided we fall.

Daroxtar

gazzer wrote: »

Now that the pension levy has been announced and with the amount of people in the private sector taking pay cuts do you reckon we are now going to see pay cuts been implented in areas of the private sector where it hasnt yet happened and my not warrant a pay cut(i.e businesses not in trouble)?

What I am getting at is that none of my family or friends in the private sector have taken a pay cut or lost a job. They all seem to be pretty confidant that things are good and going to stay that way. However do you think that employers will now turn around and try to impose pay cuts (using the fact that other people are now taking pay cuts and paying a pension levy).

What kind of jobs are your family and friends in? They are utterly deluded if they think all their jobs are safe unless they are doctors or undertakers.
10% of the population is now unemployed so unless you belong to a fairly elite and sheltered sector then someone you know is suffering.
If you dont know anybody who is getting sacked or laid off then here's a big HELLO from me. I had to change jobs last easter because the company was going bust. in 2007 i made 50k. last year i made 40k. I got let go at christmas from the new job because of lack of business.
just in case you cant do the math, that a 20% wage cut followed by a 100% wage cut. And you're looking for further cuts?????
Why not swap jobs with me?

jmayo

The more I see some of the posts on here about why should public sector take cuts or how come private sector are not taking cuts like us sh***, the more I think our education system is a pile of sh***.

Some people have a problem with basic arithmetic.
Money coming into state coffers < Money going out of state coffers.

I have asked numerous times of the ardent public sector supporters
"Where will the money come from to pay them and their pensions ? "
As of yet only a few have come back with anything constructive, most pro public sector posters ignore this little issue. :rolleyes:

Private sector takes care of itself, usually aloong the lines of :
no sales = no jobs.
lower sales = lower wages and some job losses.

Public sector workers appear to want ....
lower revenue income = no job losses, no lowering wages, even increases in wages because we agreed it back in good times.

See anything wrong with these ?

ParkRunner

Daroxtar wrote: »

10% of the population is now unemployed so unless you belong to a fairly elite and sheltered sector then someone you know is suffering.
If you dont know anybody who is getting sacked or laid off then here's a big HELLO from me. I had to change jobs last easter because the company was going bust. in 2007 i made 50k. last year i made 40k. I got let go at christmas from the new job because of lack of business.
just in case you cant do the math, that a 20% wage cut followed by a 100% wage cut. And you're looking for further cuts?????
Why not swap jobs with me?

Maybe the 50k and the 40k pay packet (above the civil service average) is why the pay cut is now 100%, simply too expensive! In addition, there are profit making public service organisations, which employ hard-working dedicated staff and these have been hit by the levy also. A post earlier saying to hit a similar private sector organisation would destroy morale or words to those effect so you can see why a portion of civil servants wish to question the levy with their local TD's on a Saturday.

Pension levy = less money for civil servants to spend = less money being spent on goods and services in the private sector = more job losses = more money taken off civil servants to pay for social welfare payments = a vicious circle in my opinion

jimmmy

murphaph wrote: »

Yet the public sector unions want to strike. I'll go in and boo and jeer any public servants who have the nerve to strike or protest I swear I will.

So will I. No if's, no buts.

ixoy

EF wrote: »

A post earlier saying to hit a similar private sector organisation would destroy morale or words to those effect so you can see why a portion of civil servants wish to question the levy with their local TD's on a Saturday.

Yes it does damage morale - I can attest to that. So can many private sector workers. The difference is the private sector would start fearing that the next cut would be 100% whereas the public sector (those not contracted, which is many) don't have that worry. I'd still rather receive a small cut than a full cut.

Pension levy = less money for civil servants to spend = less money being spent on goods and services in the private sector = more job losses = more money taken off civil servants to pay for social welfare payments = a vicious circle in my opinion

Agreed, it's a balancing act. At the same time, you could then use warped logic and turn us all into employees of the state so that we all have money to spend...

nesf

ixoy wrote: »

Agreed, it's a balancing act. At the same time, you could then use warped logic and turn us all into employees of the state so that we all have money to spend...

FF tried that in the 80s.

ParkRunner

ixoy wrote: »

Yes it does damage morale - I can attest to that. So can many private sector workers. The difference is the private sector would start fearing that the next cut would be 100% whereas the public sector (those not contracted, which is many) don't have that worry. I'd still rather receive a small cut than a full cut.


Agreed, it's a balancing act. At the same time, you could then use warped logic and turn us all into employees of the state so that we all have money to spend...

And yet the public service is being bashed again for wanting to let their feelings be known to their local TD's on a Saturday? A nation of civil servants is obviously impossible and the money now taken away as a pension levy will need to be very carefully spent! If it used to recapitalise the banks the money might as well be spent on overseas aid in my opinion. For everyones sake I hope it is invested in infrastructure projects

nesf

EF wrote: »

And yet the public service is being bashed again for wanting to let their feelings be known to their local TD's on a Saturday? A nation of civil servants is obviously impossible and the money now taken away as a pension levy will need to be very carefully spent! If it used to recapitalise the banks the money might as well be spent on overseas aid in my opinion. For everyones sake I hope it is invested in infrastructure projects

I'd agree completely with you if we had a balanced budget at the moment, but we don't. Government needs to raise revenues and/or cut expenditure. It's going to be impossible for them to balance the budget without either reducing the demand (by either cutting Public Servant salaries or taxing everyone's) or reducing supply by cutting services. It's a vicious circle but there's no way out of it.

ParkRunner

nesf wrote: »

I'd agree completely with you if we had a balanced budget at the moment, but we don't. Government needs to raise revenues and/or cut expenditure. It's going to be impossible for them to balance the budget without either reducing the demand (by either cutting Public Servant salaries or taxing everyone's) or reducing supply by cutting services. It's a vicious circle but there's no way out of it.

The fairest way therefore in my opinion would be a combination of a lower pension levy on the public service than has been proposed and a raise in taxes, in particular the higher rate. Those at the very bottom of the civil service payscale are being asked to pay a disproportionate amount, when the wealthy who can afford to make a contribution are not being asked for anything apart from the income levy which everyone pays.

dresden8

The government, IBEC and the indo have made great play over the last few months about how "WE" must share the pain.

The above parties have spent the last six months softening up the public sector for their "share of the pain".

It's landed.

Some of the Private Sector have been laid off. Some have had pay-cuts. No-one is disputing that.

Some however, are still receiving pay increases and bonuses.

Do you not think the above parties, having inflicted "shared pain" on one sector will not move on to "share the pain" with all sectors, particularly the private sector who are "lucky" enough to have held onto their jobs and pay, through the sound economic management of the country and the altruism of their employers?

If the private sector "fatcats" ("fatcats" has now come to mean low to middle paid workers by the way) think the government isn't coming for them shortly then you deserve another five years of Fianna Fail.

nesf

dresden8 wrote: »

Some however, are still receiving pay increases and bonuses.

Some semi-State workers are too though. Bless those ESB lads, working so hard to provide such cheap electricity...

I agree though, the pain will spread to the middle class private sector workers quite soon and the worse off after that. No way around it really, 20 billion is too big a gap to plug.

nesf

EF wrote: »

The fairest way therefore in my opinion would be a combination of a lower pension levy on the public service than has been proposed and a raise in taxes, in particular the higher rate. Those at the very bottom of the civil service payscale are being asked to pay a disproportionate amount, when the wealthy who can afford to make a contribution are not being asked for anything apart from the income levy which everyone pays.

Would you have a problem with the pension levy if everyone only got to claim 20% tax back off it?

ParkRunner

nesf wrote: »

Would you have a problem with the pension levy if everyone only got to claim 20% tax back off it?

Are you saying that everyone should only get 20% tax relief for the pension levy? Ill be paying the levy myself just to clarify that, my only big problem with it is that the public sector have been hit in its entirety and that the lower paid are making a disproportionate contribution. The entire private sector have not made a contribution but this could be done through income tax. That was my point.
If the wealthy civil servants were to only receive 20% tax relief that would be a bit fairer but they could still easily afford that, whereas a lower paid civil servant is taking a much more severe hit in terms of how much they can afford

NewDubliner

SkepticOne wrote: »

Defined benefit pensions in the private sector are extremely rare. .... What civil servants are being asked to contribute even with the levy is still only a fraction of what it really costs.

What about the Contributory Social Welfare pension? It's a defined benefit scheme and most private sector workers pay into it and beneifit from it. The money is paid from taxation, just like public service pensions and is not based on the amount of money paid in.

When private sector workers talk about pension plans they mean occupational pensions which are paid on top of the DSW pension. These reason these are collapsing is that they were based on investment in shares which profitted from property speculation and asset stripping of public companies. Everyone in the country was subsidising these plans through inflated prices used to drive profits back to the shareholders.

nesf

EF wrote: »

Are you saying that everyone should only get 20% tax relief for the pension levy? Ill be paying the levy myself just to clarify that, my only big problem with it is that the public sector have been hit in its entirety and that the lower paid are making a disproportionate contribution. The entire private sector have not made a contribution but this could be done through income tax. That was my point.

Ah, I thought you were complaining about how after you take in the disparity between those who can get 20% and those who can get 41% relief that some lower earners pay more it terms of tax home pay than those who earn a few thousand more than them. Which is fairly disproportionate.


On your second point, the private sector aren't paid out of Government Expenditure so the reality is different in this situation. The money isn't there to pay the public service pay bill so it needs to be reduced either through job losses or pay cuts. Also, don't worry we'll be hit by taxes, reductions in reliefs and such soon enough, I think FF is choosing to fight one battle at a time but they're going to come to those of us in the private sector when looking for much of the rest of the deficit.

dresden8

nesf wrote: »

Also, don't worry we'll be hit by taxes, reductions in reliefs and such soon enough, I think FF is choosing to fight one battle at a time but they're going to come to those of us in the private sector when looking for much of the rest of the deficit.

Indeed. Many threads on this board and "another" contain much schadenfreude from the private sector about how the ps deserve to get screwed and how much they deserve it.

Well, when the government comes for the private sector I hope they don't expect too much sympathy from the public sector.

Well and truly divided and conquered.

Must be Ireland.

First item on the agenda, The split.

Daroxtar

EF wrote: »

Maybe the 50k and the 40k pay packet (above the civil service average) is why the pay cut is now 100%, simply too expensive!

considering i worked 7am to 6pm monday to friday and 8-5 on saturday and threw in a pile of sundays too i dont consider it too expensive at all. I call that breaking my bolox. what would a junior civil servant get for them hours? did i mention that i got no paid sick leave either?

Cicero

Think the title of this thread is very misguided- it sounds (even if that was not the intention) that the private sector have somehow 'got off' to date....Defined benefit pensions are relatively rare outside the public sector- retail bank staff used to have them but new bank staff only have defined contribution pensions..with many people moving to 3 days weeks in many industries coupled with a reduced pay packet, many more having to take a cut in pay, and others loosing their jobs, I think that the few people out there in the private sector who have defined benefit pensions are worried about a lot more than just a pension levey...in fact, if that was the worst thing to happen to them in the next 5 years, they would feel very pleased with themselves.

NewDubliner

seamus wrote: »

People can survive with only a portion of their liver intact. I've never heard of anyone surviving on half a heart.

The problem is one of cholesterol and obesity.

Our standard of living is unsustainable. We need to give up the big, expensive-to-heat houses in satellite towns, the long road-clogging commutes, the expensive holidays, the foreign designer goods and cars and move closer to concentrated areas of employment where services can be provided with much less transport cost and a pool of labour talent is readily available.

irish_bob

jimmmy wrote: »

So will I. No if's, no buts.

i believe thier is a protest planned outside my local fianna fails td,s office on the 14th febuary , i will be there on the opposite of the street shouting

GO BACK TO WORK SACRED COWS , GO BACK TO WORK SACRED COWS

you have to have your own slogans to counter the public servant slogans

WE DIDNT CAUSE THIS MESS , THE PRIVATE SECTOR CREAMED IT DURING THE BOOOM

kippy

I work in the public sector.

This has to be one of the DAFTEST posts in this forum...
For gods sake. Has the OP not seen the unemployment figures?

Thankfully the majority of my friends who work in the Private sector are still in jobs, have had salary increases and are getting bonus this year. I wouldnt wish anything else on them, their companies are doing well, at the moment anyway. Without them doing well the tax take would be lower.

I can take a hit for a very very good pension that they can only dream off.


This thread really does begger belief and highlights the lack of understanding of the whole situation by what I have to say, a large amount of public sector workers.