The same sort of cuts many have been taking in the private sector for years. There's a recession, it's to be expected.
I think you'll find a lot of publci sector workers broke the strike on Thursday as we agree that we have to take a hit. And don't fioget we've had a pay freeze for 18 months. I know it's the same, or even worse for a lot of people in the private sector but we have been gettng hit for a while and it will get worse..
The otherside of the argument could be that Nurses, Fireman go home without taking much work home with them, whereas teachers take books, paperwork everyday to mark in their own time + planning which takes all the weekends up & evenings without being payed. So maybe they deserve to retire earlier & have a decent pension to live on with the hours they put in they have a right to strike compared to others.
But Firemen are risking their lives to save people while the decisions of Nurses can be a matter of life and death. Huge pressure and stress there!
So do the army, Trawlermen & many other jobs who risk their lives. The point I am getting at is firemen get paid alot more than teachers a good minority of them with experience. If I seem to remember did they strike over conditions a bit back along with postmen who don't do any where near the amount of hours a teacher does out of school hours. The teachers are striking to get what they rightly deserve like firemen, binmen & postmen have done in the past. They have all gone on strike because of proposed changes.
I'm on work experience with a Rail Company right now, the top performing one in Europe, and I had to sit in on a STUD (Safety Training Update Day). The work and amount of responsibility that comes with that job is huge and they recognise that. It is a very complicated job to do with the introduction of all the new systems (TPWS, AWS) to prevent incidents. Couple that with the fact most mainline cabs now have black-boxes so every trip is analysed resulting in drivers needing to be on top form all the time. If Pilots get paid loads more for carrying less people, less frequently, why do train drivers not deserve their money, which is currently at about £41k with the Company I'm with for carrying more people into work and for leisure activities, on a more frequent basis?