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I have low pay and no future because of threats about outsourcing to the Atlas Consortium running the Defence Information Infrastructure project (The lure of the public sector).
My pay as a network manager is £26,000 - this is after 35 years of service, part of it as a radar engineer. I buy, configure and maintain 30 servers on a network of 1,500 workstations.
There are two people looking after the network and four low-skilled operator maintainers looking after more than 2,000 workstations and notebooks.
My advice: do not work for the public sector.
Ron Bumstead
You make it sound you are over-worked! The team numbers seem about right, if not extravagant especially in the real world: the Private sector.
There many reasons why you and others in the Public sector are on LOW pay:
1. the public sector work less hours
2. the public sector need to employ more persons to screw-in the proverbial light-bulb, due to one above, more absenteeism, and less work completed per person
3. receive grossly over subsidised pensions
Count your blessings - after 35 years you will receive a good pension. If you were in the real world contracting (yes contractors get good pay, more than double your salary) then you would need to invest a good deal of your income then pray it provides good returns for a pension.... my has not, and I am sure many many more contractors have seen their investments dwindle while watching public pensions thrive.
Posted by: Dave Walker | Sunday, 06 April 2008 at 05:34 PM
Dave, I don't know where you get this idea that all Civil Servants are on high wages and good pensions. Only the Senior Civil Servants are on good wages and Pensions, the average Civil Servant working in the Job Centre for instance is on under £14,000 per annum, and are often OVERWORKED. And no, more people are NOT being employed, in fact they are being made redundant, out-sourced or are not being replaced. Those left behind are finding themselves having to pick up the additional work load.
When your wages are this LOW then the Pension will be low, with most paying extra to top up their pensions!. I suggest you have a look at the PCS Union Website to get the REAL story on how Civil Servants are treated, remember this if you ever find yourself unlucky and in the Job Centre.
Posted by: PS Worker | Monday, 07 April 2008 at 09:32 PM