Sorry to go back to NHS pay, they had below inflation rises for over a decade. In the last few years before she retired my wife had rises that were "not consolidated " that means that at the end of the year the rise was removed. Then guess what, they got a 1% rise. Therefore they have stood still for years but in real terms they were worse off. She was on the clerical side & their pay was even worse than nurses. Percentage rises always penalise the lowest paid , 1% of s*d all = s*d all. So often you hear politicians say they have put x amount extra into a particular area, always neglecting the amounts they have cut over the previous years, sometimes decades.
Below inflation pay rises are nothing new and certainly not unique to the NHS. I worked for DWP for about 8 years and every year the payrise was less than inflation. For a number of years staff earning more than about £21k got no payrise at all.
Quite, all public sector pay was always poor, but you used to be able to argue that at least it was secure, with a reasonable pension. However constant reorganisation and outsourcing means security is gone, & pensions have been heavily eroded, from final salary, to career average. Given that the starting and lower levels of public sector pay are so poor , the future pensions will be worthless. Before anyone starts on about gold plated pensions, remember we paid between 6 & 9 % of our income into these schemes, and again because it's all percentage based, if you were on a low scale , especially at the start, you get little back.
Points all well made Allotment Boy. Try telling the people employed as Admin Assistants that they were well paid and jobs for life when DWP decided the grade was no longer required and most would be made redundant. The redundancy package was nothing special either.
Another neighbour has just cut a tree down Our whole neighbourhood is named after trees and woods but there won't be any left soon. Developers need to start naming streets more honestly. Plastic Grass Gardens. Fake Box Ball Boulevard. Tacky Crap Crescent. Ecological Disaster Drive.
If you can keep your head, while those around you are losing theirs, you may not have grasped the seriousness of the situation.
Unilever are to cease using 'Normal' as part of the description of any of their beauty products in an attempt to be more inclusive! How will they label hair shampoo? "For non-greasy and non-dry hair".
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So often you hear politicians say they have put x amount extra into a particular area, always neglecting the amounts they have cut over the previous years, sometimes decades.
Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.