Oh. I see.

Nah, I don't do that.  I just send them in opposite directions so they can't continue to argue and make my headache worse.  

*passes Dave some paracetamol and a glass of water* 

Think about the children. 

Strike days were the highlight of my primary and secondary education. 

Pheww, pleased she went with this one ^  

What was the question again teacher? 

That made me laugh.

  *snogs* 

Class dismissed 

Dave you missed out on a good old fashioned British education.

If I knew now what I could have known then, eh?

I'm completely behind the teachers. My daughter called me today to discuss this and said, well, what am I going to do on Thursday? To which I have to reply that that is the whole point of having a leg to stand on and strike, otherwise, if there's no hurt, there's no point in striking.

BTW:  Gove has to be off his head when calling parents to the fore when all along we have to have a check to be around children. What an idiot.

No teacher's strike in Scotland,the schools are breaking up for the holidays anyway.End of June is the start of the summer break.

Did I say teachers should take no holidays?  Did I say teachers deserved no holidays?

I'm all in favour of teachers having 4 weeks off, in fact I couldn't be more for it.

How you see my posts is up to you Olly.  Not much I can do about that

A Facebook status doing the rounds today ..

Remember when teachers, nurses doctors & council workers crashed the stock market, wiped out banks, took billions in bonuses and paid no tax? No, me neither. Please copy and paste to your status for 24 hours to show your support for the strikes against the government

fair enough Temps I just felt you were being pretty unfair about the whole teachers holiday thing and then accusing those actually in the know of being condescending to you when explaining the teacher workload which I felt, after reading the whole thread, was not the case at all ..

we'll have to agree to disagree I reckon

Fair enough Olly, but don't put words in my mouth, or take pops at me through a third party

says it all!

what about my bins the rats!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

There is a mouse on centre court at Wimbledon at the moment 

Squeaks every time she hits the ball. 

errrmmm I did none of that. . I addressed your post directly as well as posting with others in this thread, but if you wish to think so then fair enough. .. I also didn't hide behind any intimation about whose post I was referring to when I commented. . I think I was pretty clear..  and I didn't put words in your mouth I asked a question that is all.. albeit it was tinged with sarcasm and as I said I was surprised at your response to others in here. . it is a emotive subject and people will respond with passion about such things if they feel somebody is not aware of all the facts. ... I just feel it was kinda harsh to then call their responses condescending. .

anyways, moving on ..

bet she doesnt carry the bubonic plague like the rats that are going to infest my garden though

I'll loan you Milo Gyps - he's a champion rat catcher    although I tend to stay indoors with the door firmly closed squeaking if I so much as see a long tail - I'm dead brave see 

Blimey, I grew up hearing this argument, every summer holiday.

We always went away with my aunt, who was a secondary school teacher. My dad would always start off ribbing her about the long holidays they got, she would respond, and it would end up in full blown rows! 

To be honest, any hard working teacher, who does do the marking, do the lesson plans, attend countless staff meetings, attend a good few parent meetings, deal with difficult students, needy students, obnoxious parents etc., would get mightily pissed off with people always mentioning their 'cushy' holidays.

I know my dad would always try to make out that it was just banter, at first, but he knew the reaction it was going to get and he always got it. My aunt always won the argument, but we knew he'd try it again, next year!

By the way, we were at a family party, last weekend, but my brother and sister-in-law had to leave early, as my sister-in-law had reports to finish. She's a maths teacher, but she also runs the drama club and puts on various musical shows throughout the year. I think she works bloody hard and she makes the most of her summer break, which she thoroughly deserves.

My husband used to work on the ships in the North Sea.  He would work 6 months on, 6 months off.  The 6 months he was on he would work 24/7 (sleeping aside) in highly stressful situations.  He deserved every minute of his 6 months off too. During his 6 months off he would be on call, so that if anything happened to the second mate that was on there at the time he would have to take over.  He never denied he got 'cushy' holidays, despite the fact that he bloomin earned it.

Plenty of workers earn and deserve their time off.

I think its worse than that, her screams are making me turn the tv down. 

Well my niece crossed the picket line to go to work today...the Shame! I've been calling her scab all day in texts,lol,she's a member of the PCS..tsk tsk,changed days her late dad will be spinning in his grave he was head of  a union branch in the printing industry.I've been on strike too when I was a member of Unison. I know it's hard now with younger folk, they need all their wages etc.She works for the student Loans company and bloody hates it anyway.

Absolutely, Temps.

No one is saying that teachers are the only ones with 'different' working conditions.

Just that they actually work harder and longer than a lot of people believe and are allowed to get pissed off with constant jibes about it.

For all the people who did not go on strike today,I would say that they are accepting of the Governments proposed cuts ,so cut their pension.

Yea Erin,I would agree,but my niece really doesn't want a career in the Student loan company,so that's why she went in to work,she doesn't want to be there long term.I still got onto her though,I could never cross a picket line.

I am also fully supportive of the teachers, and also think they do a great job, but I am sorry, but everyone is having to pull in their belts because of the recession and everyone is suffering, so I don't get why anyone who works for the public sector thinks they should be treated any differently.   

That aside, I have just been watching BBC news, and have seen mums on there, griping and whingeing about the teacher strike because their little darling has been off school today, and the disruption to their life is utterly immeasurable...  one woman had to sit her poor little son in front of the telly half the morning and even had to occupy him by reading to him!

FFS, it's ONE day!  They haven't come out of work for the rest of the year.  People make such a fuss.... half the mums don't work anyway, and the other half who 'do' work, have to find alternative arrangement if the kid is ill or whatever...  The news must be short of stories, because the massive fuss that is being made is ludicrous IMO.

It's because people in the public sector work to a nationally negotiated contract. Pensions are defined as deferred wages and form part of the contract.

This isn't about the recession,......it's not as if they are cutting pensions, and then when the country is in a better position, reinstating them.  This is an employer deciding (rightly or wrongly) to save money in the long term by permanently changing the terms and conditions that many have worked under for years, without proper consultation. I'm not against changes to pensions per se, it depends on the conditions and the honest reasons for doing so......but I am against the shoddy way this has been dealt with, and I don't agree that ALL the changes are neccessary. Yes, public sector pensions cost the tax payer, but so do state pensions, and income support, and housing benefit for those pensioners on low pensions......and for many many low paid public sector workers the reality is switching from paying them a pension to paying them benefits if these changes go ahead. I don't see the sense (or the savings) in that.

I also still don't understand how public sector workers are asking to be treated differently? We are suffering the effects of the recession as much as anyone. Pay freezes, job cuts, the lot........and don't get me started on the cuts to educational budgets, which affect staff and pupils alike!  Public sector workers are not being protected from the effects of recession. Therefore we are being treated the same as everyone else surely?

just read this thread

i dont understand it

all i know is that the local kids were in the park playing footie cos they got a day off

The con/dems main target Ducky...how dare public sector workers want a reasonable pension etc.Oh and as for gold plated rich pensions etc..well maybe those other public sector workers known as MP's get that,the majority don't.I took early retirement due to health issues,I'm living it up on £660 a month,half of that goes on rent and council tax as they state I have "excess income" i.e the gov't declares you can live on £67.00 a week.

when I worked in the public sector (NHS),  the decent pension was the one thing that made the really poor wages (same job in the private sector would have paid at least double) more bearable.

I don;t know anyone that works in the public sector for the money..   but you do need enough to live on.  The wages aren't enough to be able to afford to take out a separate private pension.. 

In principle I am behind these strikes...    I am a little grrrrrr at it being the NUT that were the first ones to go on strike..    as they were the union that was striking for my last two years at school..   it had a significant effect on the qualifications I & my year at school left with...  I really don't want it to now effect my son's education in the same way.

That said..  now I am older & watching all this play out..   I don't blame the teachers.. I blame the government.

How stupid are they?   Talk about not learning lessons from past experiences...     this could well lead to them losing the next election ...    Kinda a win win situation for me..     either the public sector kick ass & the government realises we (the public) have our limits...     or..  they don't back down & they lose power to Labour at the next election.

Win Win 

Well Conservatives will never get back in the next time!!!!!!!!!!! 

This is vindictive against the public sector..the majority of whom are on a basic wages etc...not Doctors/teachers etc,but the civil servants ,local government etc ,basic low paid clerical workers.It pisses me off that they are being targeted as "privilidged" etc.Oh I hate Cameron et all!

If we are going to be political....what about Brown's raid on private sector pension funds that scuppered a heck of a lot of our pensions....swings and roundabouts with politicians

And Milliband will never lead the labour party to victory either....his silence is deafening

Tee hee.    And doesnt he look like an aardman character?    (Like off wallis and gromit!)

Actually this is better



Jeez......he really does, I'd never noticed that before