tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-685085701261233206.post6326290478224987451..comments2024-03-15T07:29:13.447+00:00Comments on Living on words alone: Pay fall figures show Labour's economic stupidityDan Falchikovhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10202541499332901648noreply@blogger.comBlogger1125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-685085701261233206.post-5207012646644571052013-08-12T09:55:59.266+01:002013-08-12T09:55:59.266+01:00They closed my entire department down this year as...They closed my entire department down this year as a result of privatisation. I'm now working in another job with a 20% pay cut and a zero hour contract and I don't even show up in these statistics. At the same time, the vice-chancellor of my university got a £72,000 pay rise. Same pattern across academia. It even happens in the NHS: 10-18% pay rises for senior staff at Winchester hospital, was it? And across the country, 2% pay rise for senior staff while the nurses enjoy a pay freeze. And then there's the terribly embarrassing 12% pay rise that MPs are staring in the face, the poor dears.<br /><br />You suggest that the equation that governs pay reduction is<br /><br />total funding=pay * number of jobs<br /><br />therefore number of jobs goes up as pay goes down since total funding remains static. That is not accurate. What we're actually seeing is a far more complex equation:<br /><br />total funding = senior pay * number of jobs + employee pay * number of jobs [and hours, and job security, etc]<br /><br />Senior pay is going up, in many cases quite radically. Employee pay (and security, and hours, and pension) is going down, in many cases quite radically. You could argue that it doesn't make a real difference since there are so few senior staff, I suppose. You could even argue that senior staff deserve the money for their performance, although I personally would laugh in your face. <br /><br />You argue that employees should be jolly happy to have anything at all, be it ever so humble ('whaddya want? you got a job!'). I would say you're seriously oversimplifying the issue. Sure, so are Labour, but so what? These are real peoples' lives you're pontificating about, all of you political parties, and I suggest that all of you should strive to do better than that.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com