Lumpsum payments to those retiring

[sophie 4]

'Suffer'-The private sector creates the wealth that pays most of the taxes. The pay and pension bill for the PS is horrendous in this country.
If PS want pensions pay your own in full and stop whinging. Frankly, most PS wouldn't last long in the private sector as the culture is one of customer service, hard work, common sense. The public service is challenged even in answering the phones.

 

[Firefly]

You could have fooled me

Where have I ranted? I asked a simple question if you read my initial post.

 

[Firefly]

Correct me if im wrong but were not all PS jobs advertised publicly when such vacancies arose with all conditions attached.
If YOU did not wish to apply for such jobs and instead decided to stick to the private sector perhaps charging Euro 2 per brick laid or Euro 10 per lenght of copper pipe bent them I suggest you backed the wrong horse my friend.
Perhaps you should look at where you got it wrong before suggesting how those who took the steady but dependable path should suffer .

I'm not going to get into defending my career decisions (which are working out quite well) for you. Indeed, what does my individual position have to do with anything? If someone working in the Public Sector asked the question I asked in my initial post, would you have responded the same? Feel free to answer the original question by the way and perhaps even provide a few reasons with your answer.

 

[Purple]

Perhaps you should look at where you got it wrong before suggesting how those who took the steady but dependable path should suffer .

Why do so many people use this sort of rhetoric when talking about reducing government expenditure?
Just because pay levels/perks/pensions have to be cut it doesn’t follow that those who are on the receiving end are to blame for the current state of the state finances, such arguments are juvenile and irrelevant. The state is bankrupt and has to spend less. It’s as simple as that. Therefore people who are employed by the state have to take pay cuts and/or lose their job. Their culpability or otherwise for the problems we face doesn’t come into it. The same holds true for people employed by a private company that’s losing money or going bust.

 

[Purple]

I have worked in both public sector and private sector. When I worked in the public sector in the dark days of the 1980s and 1990s my salary was a pittance beside that of my private sector equivalents - all professionals like me. But I couldn't afford to buy a house - they bought large houses in nice suburbs, I got a 10 year old banger - they had brand new cars. I continued to work at the job because I believed in it.

I take it that you are aware that average pay levels in the Public Sector have always been greater that those in the Private Sector and that during the boom years that gap increased. That’s despite the propaganda trotted out by the Commissars in the Trade Unions and was a result of two trips to the Benchmarking ATM and the host of other pay hikes enjoyed by the Public Sector.
I agree that building trades (amongst others) charged scandalous amounts during the boom but thankfully the whole building sector has collapsed and prices are getting back to what could be described as reasonable, even if quality is still as bad as ever.

 

[zztop]

2 trips to the ATM..
No payment was ever given on foot of the 2nd benchmarking exercise as
reported in Dáil question time.I expect it wont be paid now

 

[liaconn]

'Suffer'-The private sector creates the wealth that pays most of the taxes. The pay and pension bill for the PS is horrendous in this country.
If PS want pensions pay your own in full and stop whinging. Frankly, most PS wouldn't last long in the private sector as the culture is one of customer service, hard work, common sense. The public service is challenged even in answering the phones.

What a lazy,generalised meaningless post. I have come across lots of areas of the private sector which are badly managed, and have poor customer service. I'm not saying some areas of the public sector also don't offer poor customer service but it's not across the board and it's not exclusive to the public service. This myth that public sector workers 'wouldn't last a day' in the private sector has been done to death.

On topic, as other posters have said, public sector jobs were open to everyone. Some people opted for the high salary but higher risk private sector jobs. Others spent many many years in poorly paid public service jobs with a guaranteed pension and lump sum at the end. If people want these terms and conditions changed going forward that's one thing. To tell someone at the end of their career that you're now going to change something important that formed part of their risk calculation is a separate thing and would be very unfair in my view.

 

[Purple]

On topic, as other posters have said, public sector jobs were open to everyone. Some people opted for the high salary but higher risk private sector jobs. Others spent many many years in poorly paid public service jobs with a guaranteed pension and lump sum at the end. If people want these terms and conditions changed going forward that's one thing. To tell someone at the end of their career that you're now going to change something important that formed part of their risk calculation is a separate thing and would be very unfair in my view.

Wages in the public sector are higher than wages in the private sector. This was the case before the boom and during the boom the gap got bigger, not smaller. If you look at the total value of the package (pension, working hours, sick-pay, etc) then the gap gets bigger again.
Back on topic; there is no link between those that are facing the cuts are those that are "to blame" for our problems and nor should there be. This isn't primary school. If you lose your job and your family income goes down your teenaged kids are hardly going to say "but it's not my fault so why is my pocket money being cut?" Your 6 year old might say that though.