From The Sun:
BRITAIN'S biggest public sector union last night voted for a crazy crippling strike over pension changes — sparking fears of a new Winter of Discontent.
But less than a QUARTER of Unison members — including nurses, social workers, paramedics and teaching assistants — backed the mass walkout on November 30. Of 1.1 million people balloted, only 29 per cent actually voted — backing the strike by 245,358 to 70,253...
Cabinet Office Minister Francis Maude said the figures showed "extremely limited support". He added: "The new generous settlement is beyond the dreams of most private employees. I urge the trade unions to devote their energy to reaching agreement and not to unnecessary and damaging strike action."
To summarise:
Total turnout: 29%
'Yes' votes out of all votes cast: 78%
Percentage of all eligible voters who voted 'Yes': 22.3%.
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Let's compare this with the General Election Result 2010:
To summarise:
Total turnout: 65.1%
Tory votes out of all votes cast: 36.1%
Percentage of all eligible voters who voted Tory: 23.5%
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As it happens, I agree with Mr Maude that a lot of public sector pensions are far too generous - and the more senior the post, the greedier they get, with MPs like Mr Maude among the greediest. I do not support the strikers (although I accept that they have the right to strike if they so wish). But if I were Mr Maude, I wouldn't go round reminding people that his government has "extremely limited support"
Friday, 4 November 2011
Francis Maude Does Maths
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8 comments:
Agree with most of your points, but note that support for the _government_ should include the Lib Dem vote.
Jer, let's gloss over that :-)
Me and my Nursing Sister wife were out shopping and got the usual unison pension petition gumf.
I pointed out that I paid twice what my wife does into a private pension and I get the same projected amount.
The answer I got what as "I should ask for a better return" ????
Sean, that is priceless, thanks.
>a lot of public sector pensions are far too generous
I prefer the term "far too onerous on the taxpayer".
Being "generous" with OPM is easy.
AC1
Sean, you'd get a better return if there was less tax...
AC1
AC1, the main reason for poor pension performance is actually all the fees, commission and charges collected by the lenders.
Remember: when you buy shares you are paying for a mulitiple of AFTER tax profits, you don't pay a penny for the slice of the profits taken in tax. so as long as the tax doesn't go up after you've bought the shares the tax doesn't actually matter that much.
if you factor in those who voted Conservative because of Duverger's Law (UKIPpers holding their nose and voting Tory) the unions would probably have had more support.
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