Unions on the march..

Colm R

kippy wrote: »

That is a false statement to make and you have absolutely nothing to back it up, just as the original poster had nothing to back it up. I have no documentary evidence either however I do believe there was a report on private sector pay in the past few months which mentioned that about 30 % of people in the Private sector who still had work had had a pay cut or cut in hours.

I am only speaking from my own personal experience where I know about 40 people working in the private sector, various areas. Almost all those in construction are without work (5)
15 more that I know that work in IT and other areas have not had their pay or hours cut. 10 have actually had not insignificant pay rises this year and the other 10 have managed to change jobs/move out of the country (not forcibly)
TO SUGGEST THAT ALL PRIVATE SECTOR WORKER HAVE TAKEN A PAY CUT IS NOT TRUE

(as I said, I dont disagree with the majority of everything else being expressed on this thread.)

See my post earlier. For anyone who got the pay rise, I would assume the employer took into account the cost of keeping that person rather than loosing him/her to the competition.

Eliot Rosewater

Colm R wrote: »

Thats in Cork. Is it real?

Yes it is. Unfortunately I had to be somewhere so I couldnt make an equally agreeable sign and join this guy. Maybe if the march was on a Saturday.

But then again, if the march was not on a working day the attendance would have been negligible. But maybe Begg would have been entitled to overtime. God knows he needs it.

jimmmy

Eliot Rosewater wrote: »

Yes it is. Unfortunately I had to be somewhere so I couldnt make an equally agreeable sign and join this guy. Maybe if the march was on a Saturday.

+1 . Or a Sunday.

jimmmy

Heard a HSE woman on RTE just now...she was complaining about the pay herself + her husband ( also a public servant got )....she said they "only had a 5 figure salary between the 2 of them" ! :D:D
( less than 100,000 )

victor11

jimmmy wrote: »

Heard a HSE woman on RTE just now...she was complaining about the pay herself + her husband ( also a public servant got )....she said they "only had a 5 figure salary between the 2 of them" ! :D:D
( less than 100,000 )

It's sickening listening to people that go on like that.... poor me & me husband.... only a hundred g's to live on!!
They do the public sector argument no favours - Not that they have one!:mad:

Colm R

Eliot Rosewater wrote: »

Yes it is. Unfortunately I had to be somewhere so I couldnt make an equally agreeable sign and join this guy. Maybe if the march was on a Saturday.

But then again, if the march was not on a working day the attendance would have been negligible. But maybe Begg would have been entitled to overtime. God knows he needs it.

There was a march some months back in Cork on a Saturday. Some crowd marched. Someone else claimed there were all just shoopers!!!

kippy

Colm R wrote: »

See my post earlier. For anyone who got the pay rise, I would assume the employer took into account the cost of keeping that person rather than loosing him/her to the competition.

When is a payrise not a payrise?

NewDubliner

Darragh29 wrote: »

Just listening to Newstalk 106, they have a reporter down in Parnell Square, "not a sinner" down there at the moment....

Nothing in the Indo. Must have been called off.:rolleyes:

jimmmy

Listening to RTE beforehand you would think it was going to be huge. Now it appears there were only 10,000 people there;)

murphaph

jimmmy wrote: »

Sean Fitzpatckrick is just one individual out of a workforce of a couple of million. If he has commited a crime he should be charged + sentenced in court.

And if he hasn't been investigated and/or charged then it is another failure of the public sector who are responsible for such things

NewDubliner

jimmmy wrote: »

Listening to RTE beforehand you would think it was going to be huge. Now it appears there were only 10,000 people there;)

They can't win, if it had been huge, they'd be accused of being irresponsible, now it's 'only' 10,000+ in Dublin, they've 'no support'.

Stark

They could have held the protest on a Saturday or a Sunday and more employees would have been able to attend without taking a "late lunch".

bobbyjoe

From RTE

Gardaí say at least 30,000 people marched through the capital. However, speakers at the rally said that 70,000 people took part in the protest.

http://www.rte.ie/news/2009/1106/partnership.html

MysticalRain

kippy wrote: »

That is a false statement to make and you have absolutely nothing to back it up, just as the original poster had nothing to back it up. I have no documentary evidence either however I do believe there was a report on private sector pay in the past few months which mentioned that about 30 % of people in the Private sector who still had work had had a pay cut or cut in hours.

I am only speaking from my own personal experience where I know about 40 people working in the private sector, various areas. Almost all those in construction are without work (5)
15 more that I know that work in IT and other areas have not had their pay or hours cut. 10 have actually had not insignificant pay rises this year and the other 10 have managed to change jobs/move out of the country (not forcibly)
TO SUGGEST THAT ALL PRIVATE SECTOR WORKER HAVE TAKEN A PAY CUT IS NOT TRUE

(as I said, I dont disagree with the majority of everything else being expressed on this thread.)

IT salaries have been quite low since the dotcom bust to begin with. So they still wouldn't be up to the level of someone working in the public sector. Jumping ship, like your mates did, is about the only way to get a decent pay rise in IT these days. The notion of automatically receiving an incremental pay rise just for staying in the job doesn't really apply in IT like it does in the public sector.

IT departments are generally understaffed and people are expected to work plenty of unpaid overtime. So employers are unlikely to be cutting hours in those cases.

I think the public sector workers should count their blessings and be thankful for what they have. The last thing I would be doing if I were in their shoes is protesting about how hard done by they feel.

NewDubliner

Stark wrote: »

They could have held the protest on a Saturday or a Sunday and more employees would have been able to attend without taking a "late lunch".

:rolleyes:Their time is metered, remember: the flexitime 'perk'?

If they'd paraded on a weekend, they'd be accused of damaging weekedn shopping.

RTE has revised their estimate for Dublin up to 30,000.

Meanwhile, in the kingdom of the 'Indo', nothing at all.

Colm R

kippy wrote: »

When is a payrise not a payrise?

I am trying to get across the point that payrises in the private sector, and in particular the IT sector, are subject to market conditions, productivity and flexibility.
What point are you trying to make to me?

Romeo Sensini

Shouldn't these people have been at work?

irish_bob

jimmmy wrote: »

+1. Why does Pat or anyone not have the guts to tell them they have the highest average public sector pay in the known world ? ( Eddie Hobbs on RTE they have the highest average pay on the "planet" but most of what we hear on RTE is stuff from the unions / union members ).

rte radio is overtly pro public sector , less so on tv as pat kenny demonstrated on the frontline the other night , sean o rourke , mary wilson , morning ireland team , all give union heads as much room as they want to wagffle and spin to thier hearts content , i myself was on a radio phone in show today and when asked about guards and nurses and whether they should take cuts because they were not on good pay , i explained to the presenters that both proffesions average a grand a week and at least 30% more than what they would get in the uk , the presenter then asked me about the dangers of thier jobs , i replied , do they face any challenges which police and nurses would not face in other parts of europe where they recieve 30% less

irish_bob

kippy wrote: »

Someone earlier suggested that ALL private sector workers still in a job had taken pay cuts.
THIS IS FUNDAMENTALLY INCORRECT.

of course its incorrect , would hate to think every single private sector entity in the country made collective descisions regardless of individual balance sheets , ryanair to take one example saw thier profits well up this past year , why would they be cutting wages , contrast this with anyone working in the car trade whos business is down by at least 50% and you can bet your bottom dollar that staff who work in a toyota garrage or ford saw a reduction in pay , it is an entirely fallacious arguement to point to the fact that every public sector worker has taken a pay cut this year even though every single private sector worker has not , all public sector workers work for the one employer , thier are thousands of employers in the private sector , that so many ps workers choose to peddle this fallacious arguement either suggest they are willing to engage in dishonest debate or else they are completley ignorant of how both the public and private sector differ in this regard

Shea O'Meara

Protests are held to draw attention. That's why they usually happen on a week day. Would you hold a protest in a nameless field somewhere on a Sunday? nobody would notice.

NewDubliner

irish_bob wrote: »

rte radio is overtly pro public sector , less so on tv as pat kenny demonstrated on the frontline the other night , sean o rourke ,

Drivetime at 5pm had a collection of what sounded like 'ladies who lunch' they were quite sniffy about the march.

It depends on which program you listen to.

The Indo has now put up a story which looks like it's been cribbed from RTE.

boodlesdoodles

irish_bob wrote: »

rte radio is overtly pro public sector , less so on tv as pat kenny demonstrated on the frontline the other night , sean o rourke , mary wilson , morning ireland team , all give union heads as much room as they want to wagffle and spin to thier hearts content

All of the above are surely public servants as well...seeing as it is the TV licence that pays their wages. And my God didn't Mr. Kenny get angry when it was suggested that higher paid individuals should pay more tax, can't blame him really when his status as RTE's highest paid individual would be in jeopardy.

IMHO its a bit rich of Pat Kenny to come the heavy with the public service when its my money, as a member of the public, that pays his wages.

Walls

From what I saw 70,000 would really be the correct figure, the 30,000 would be on the low side for the amount of folk I saw out there.

TCP/IP_King

jimmmy wrote: »

The "bail out" of 3 or 4 billion ...

Eh, you can double that.
Facts Jimmy, check first before posting ...

"IT'S almost nine months since Finance Minister Brian Lenihan announced the government's €7bn bailout of AIB and Bank of Ireland. "

TCP/IP_King

victor11 wrote: »

.... poor me & me husband.... only a hundred g's to live on!!

My computer says there's 6 figures in 100,000 - but that's windows for you :mad:!!

Stark

5 in 99,999 but that's pedantry for you.

TCP/IP_King

Stark wrote: »

5 in 99,999 but that's pedantry for you.

In the rarified atmosphere of a boards.ie forum, accuracy is everything.

Psychedelic

Did anyone see TV3 news at 5.30 today? They showed the marches and there was a bit where the news anchor said that Jack O'Connor said that the unions won't be silenced. Cut to a clip of Jack O'Connor at the podium ranting away but there was no sound!!! ****ing hilarious!

Rantan

RedPlanet wrote: »

Someone should organise a counter-demonstration.
Tell these unions to STFU and get back to work.

I'll be on the dole by the time they are due to go out again. So was thinking of something like this, would like to hear any ideas or opinions as i would like to see the unemployed have a voice, to stand against the ingrates.

TCP/IP_King

Psychedelic wrote: »

... no sound!!! ****ing hilarious!

Well, more of a Ryanair TV3 thing really