They are independent of the Government as part of the judiciary so there is no reason to suppose they will not seek an agreed solution and if that fails they will favour the party they consider is the most reasonable. It is no different to any other Court process. Their decisions would be subject to intense scrutiny by the public, politicians and the media so would have every reason to be fair and reasonable.
Fair enough, thanks Leo for taking the time to teach an old codger something new! I love the way this board can discuss anything reasonably and politely!
Well I've read some of this and got more and more annoyed as i went through - I'll put my cards on the table from the start - I thoroughly support all of those on strike today and if I was in a job that was to go on strike then I'd be out too. It is very easy to knock people who are constantly knocked by government, media and those who have no idea or experience of what they are going through. The simple fact is that these people have had their pay cut in real terms by a government that is quite happy to steamroller millions of pound to rescue bankers who were the cause of the disaster in the first place, a government who are happily giving themselves an 11% pay increase (oh yeah where does the money come from?) and a government who constantly lie about these workers. Even today a government joker tried to imply that the public sector had had an 8% pay increase over the last few years - he forgot to tell the truth though - this isn't true - these workers haven't had a pay increase for years and years yet we expect them to continue to teach our children, drive our ambulances and rescue us from fires etc. Where would any of us be if it wasn't for these people - uneducated, burnt out and gasping for breath. I know from personal experience of how the tory run kent council has let down my son so much so that his special needs have been constantly neglected in the tory effort to save money and erode services. The reason the tory joker can claim such a figure is because of the job losses in the public sector as people leave the jobs (they don't like telling people about that do they - after all if the ambulance or fire brigade don't turn up, or the Police are late to the crime, or the class room is over crowded or the criminal has escaped again - it can't be the governments fault can it?) (Oh yes it can). Another government lie is that the rest of the country doesn't support the strike - not true a recent poll in the Guardian suggested in excess of 65% support. Another government untruth is this isn't a democratic election. The poll was available to as many people as possible and those who voted voted and those who didn't didn't but this doesn't mean they weren't in support of the strike. There was a maximum of 1.2m possible strikers - if the government is supposed to be believed (and frankly I don't) then around 50% of those took industrial action - showing their democratic support - a much larger proportionate figure than that which voted this government in - remember neither of those in power has an overall majority and in the case of the liberal democrats (ha ha ha - they don't know the meaning of the word) they came a very poor third. What right do they have to lecture about democracy. Everyone should have the right to strike - and actually any argument has 2 sides to it therefore if you argue that the strikers are holding the country to ransom and aren't acting democratically - well then so must the government - in my view the strikers aren't doing anything of the sort (the government are though by pulling out of meaningful negotiation)- they are taking a last desperate action to help pay for the bills, food for the children, keep roofs over their heads etc - the same can't be said for cameron, clegg, milliband and the rest of the silver spoon fed eton old boys who laughably call themselves democratically elected in touch with the people.
Maybe it is just a false reality and the Government are their employers and we are just slaves they 'serve.' It is just a way for the employees to get the slaves attention to influence the Government really, with the help of so called Unions too. I think everyone should have the right to strike, if they want. However, they should have to the consequences if so, depending on the outcome.
"so called Unions" - of course they're unions - they're a collective group of unionised people - unions
Just been talking to me step sister in Western Canada.... the teachers have been on strike for 2 weeks...... mmm...
Good on them - I hope they win - the way this government seem to want to get into a fight (at the expense of the public) - we'll not only have teachers on strike for 2 weeks but firemen, ambulance drivers, nurses, social workers, etc etc.
What gets me is these career politicians telling teachers, doctors, nurses, social workers and so on how to do their jobs.
In principle I entirely agree with the last point here Mex. If a fully independent arbiter was appointed then all parties should abide by the decision.
Very passionate argument Yello. However you still do not explain how it is right for one person to strike and cost another (unrelated and innocent) other person to lose a day's pay. Sort out grievances fairly - not by attacking others. We can agree to disagree on the causes of the current austerity measures. Sure the bankers were not faultless but as always it took a Labour government to mismanage the economy and give us the worst slump of any major economy. Labour simply cannot manage economics as their desire to pay people money that is not there always ends in disaster. The Tories always sort out the mess - and get the blame for the nasty things they have to do - and then Labour have another go at messing the economy up again. No Labour government in our history has ever left office with the economy intact. Sad but true fact. It's a shame because the Tories aren't really very nice but at least they know how to run an economy
because of course doctors nurses and teachers and social workers are always good at what they do and know how to run things on sensible budgets etc etc don't they
That's the part that grates with me - the authorities rarely acknowledge the adverse affect on children such as your own that cut-backs have. There seems to be a strong preference to denigrate teaching staff with accusations of whinging, lazy, failures etc rather than admit that axing support staff in the name of reducing costs makes classroom life extremely difficult for all within. Far easier to lay the blame elsewhere and deflect anger I suppose.
I don't want to discuss the Tory vs Labour thing as that is a polarising debate..... However it is enshrined in our legislation that individuals have the right to withhold their labour. Their are countless examples through history where striking has achieved good outcomes. Shame some of our armies haven't been "allowed" to eh.... Striking is not simply about monetary gain,,, but also about values and human freedoms.... take that right away and we are left with the vagaries of govts elected on minorities..... It is suggested that the Govts are always "right" and strikers always "wrong" which is just not true.
Well we don't - and probably never will - know how good they actually are because they are rarely, if ever, given the opportunity to show that they are...
Are you Red Ed's Speech writer per chance! You really need to find some new material as this is the same old bullshit that has been trotted out since 2010 and the majority of the electorate just aren't listening.
Well I must say I worked in the NHS, social services and education profession from 1973 until recently and there have never been issues about "budgeting" in my experiences other than what you get in any organisation. I was head of a psychiatric unit, a special school, an overseas NGO, and a University dept.... and I cant think of how because of my profession I was incompetent with the budgets..... at all.. In every role I had to keep spending to a budget and was never called to task... The problem arises when budgets are cut.. .as they have been massively in the public sector in recent years.... and the professionals are then required to deliver a similar service with less resources,,, given tick box outcomes to achieve.... and then publicly castigated when they "overspend" Perhaps the issues are more to do with either the cutbacks govts involve in setting budgets... and/or, being balanced about this, the wild budgets set by some councils of diff political persuasions.
