teachers strike???

[Lucky Luke.]

Luke if she has that its her choice to work for the public sector and not getting paid private sector prices. She could earn tripple at a private school. However that said some of these scenarios are just called life.

 

I have been studying continously for the last 15 years every year with a cost of studying rangeing from 30-50k per year just to stay updated in my field. It equates to me having 2 PHD's on the current SETA system. And guess what I get paid a quater of what your average GP gets paid that studied for a couple of years with no actual speciality.

 

I can't complain if I wanted to be paid as a doctor or laywer I should have gone into one of those careers. Its as simple as that.

 

Covie, I'm not sure what it is you do, but teaching is in crisis in this country. Those who cannot afford a private school for their kids are in for a bumpy ride. There are very few new teachers with good qualifications coming through.

 

My wife's school is staffed almost entirely by the elderly and the barely qualified. The demand for skills far exceeds the supply, but the salaries do not reflect that.

 

A doctor or lawyer's salary would be like winning the lottery compared to what my wife earns now. What's needed is reasonable remuneration comparable with salaries for professionals with a similar level of responsibility. In the UK my wife earned at the same level as me. Here it's more like a third of my earnings.

[Gasping]

the law should be simple at the first act of violence arrest every single one of the morons. And we as stand up south african parents actually trust our children with these "educators"

 

Covie, I hope you are using the term educators in inverted commas because you are questioning whether these people are actually from the teching profession. My wife is a teacher with 24 years experience and is not on strike.

 

There is a suspicion that people are being bussed in from "rent-a-crowd". I am sure there are some teachers tha are taking part in this dispicable behaviour, but let us not for one minute think that it is everyone.

[leet22]

Someone once said when a stike turns viloent it should become an illegal stike. Reading what is going on around the country not just by teachers but other public servants I cant agree more. What human and i use it in the broadest sense of the word will stop a ambulance entering or leaving a hospital or even ppl going in for treatment?

[sias]

Leet - you forget what you are dealing with here...

[Andre 77]

Fairland have also send there kids home got a sms at about 10:00 from school to collect the kids and was advised not to be around the school today and tomorrow.

[reteid]

I am following this with mixed emotions.On the one hand you have the principle of being paid peanuts and on the other side you have that if you act like a monkey i might have to pay you peanuts.I am an lawyer in private practice and has been so for 15 years plus.It amazes me how many times people think that lawyers are swimming in money.Many of my colleagus has closed down the last year or two based on a thing called global economic crises and the fallout of this.Some months go by that in order to keep my doors open I pay my staff from my own pocket as there is not enough money coming into the practice to pay them and I obviously do not draw a salary those months when this happens.

 

The point is that many bussinesses have problems , but it will not help me to go and wave a banner infront of Dept of Justice or in front of my colleagues offices and preventing clients to enter their shops.Any sympathy I might have had for these people evaporated the moment you start baricading hospitals,harassing other workers etc and then you just piss me off.I then think that maybe you should not be earning any income from my tax monies which pays your salary and that you should be fired from your job and all the other jobless teachers should be given jobs instead of teaching other children in NZ /Aus /Uk.

 

BOTTOM LINE IS THAT YOUR RIGHT TO STRIKE ENDS WHERE MY RIGHTS AS A RSA CITIZEN STARTS.

[JarradVZ]

I have been studying continously for the last 15 years every year with a cost of studying rangeing from 30-50k per year just to stay updated in my field. It equates to me having 2 PHD's on the current SETA system. And guess what I get paid a quater of what your average GP gets paid that studied for a couple of years with no actual speciality.

Careful now Covie

 

I hope that by a "couple of years" you mean a minimum of 6 gruelling years at medical school and then 2 years of internship as well as a year (soon to be 2) of community service out in some hell-hole hospital. Have you ever been on call for 36 straight hours? I don't mean sitting at a desk, I mean running up and down dealing with critical patients in casualty or in OR. Besides my standard 40 hour work week, I work an average of 120 over-time hours per month. This equates to around 6 or 7 24hr periods per month where I don't even see the inside of my own home.

And like you, I am also having to find the time to further my studies. In fact, I have exams starting on Tuesday.

 

But according to you, I'm overpaid?

[Cassie]

Ever wondered where the goverment fat cats children go to school? How are they affected by these strikes & intimidation?

 

All private schools I'm sure and very much unaffected by all this!!

 

On the other hand, after the strike is over ALL teachers will benefit from the increase...regardless whether they joined the strike or not!!

[Danger Dassie]

Careful now Covie

 

I hope that by a "couple of years" you mean a minimum of 6 gruelling years at medical school and then 2 years of internship as well as a year (soon to be 2) of community service out in some hell-hole hospital. Have you ever been on call for 36 straight hours? I don't mean sitting at a desk, I mean running up and down dealing with critical patients in casualty or in HR. Besides my standard 40 hour work week, I work an average of 120 over-time hours per month. This equates to around 6 or 7 24hr periods per month where I don't even see the inside of my own home.

And like you, I am also having to find the time to further my studies. In fact, I have exams starting on Tuesday.

 

But according to you, I'm overpaid?

 

But are you as good as Dr House? ... heh, just poking fun.

[Cassie]

Careful now Covie

 

I hope that by a "couple of years" you mean a minimum of 6 gruelling years at medical school and then 2 years of internship as well as a year (soon to be 2) of community service out in some hell-hole hospital. Have you ever been on call for 36 straight hours? I don't mean sitting at a desk, I mean running up and down dealing with critical patients in casualty or in HR. Besides my standard 40 hour work week, I work an average of 120 over-time hours per month. This equates to around 6 or 7 24hr periods per month where I don't even see the inside of my own home.

And like you, I am also having to find the time to further my studies. In fact, I have exams starting on Tuesday.

 

But according to you, I'm overpaid?

 

YES, because you obviously still have time to fantasize about being a PRO tennis star!!

not to mention cycling...

[Cassie]

Just had to add that chirp...cause it is POST # 1000 for me...

OK, so where is my medal??

[MyGT]

Careful now Covie

 

I hope that by a "couple of years" you mean a minimum of 6 gruelling years at medical school and then 2 years of internship as well as a year (soon to be 2) of community service out in some hell-hole hospital. Have you ever been on call for 36 straight hours? I don't mean sitting at a desk, I mean running up and down dealing with critical patients in casualty or in HR. Besides my standard 40 hour work week, I work an average of 120 over-time hours per month. This equates to around 6 or 7 24hr periods per month where I don't even see the inside of my own home.

And like you, I am also having to find the time to further my studies. In fact, I have exams starting on Tuesday.

 

But according to you, I'm overpaid?

 

but the question remains whether you get paid for overtime??

i personally dont. no matter how many extra hours that i put in, it is considered part of the job. KPA's and KPI's govern my employment

[JarradVZ]

but the question remains whether you get paid for overtime??

i personally dont. no matter how many extra hours that i put in, it is considered part of the job. KPA's and KPI's govern my employment

If I didn't get paid for my overtime I wouldn't be able to afford the Marmite for my toast in the mornings (or the Air 9 I just bought B) ). Close to half my monthly salary is overtime, if I don't slave away, I starve.

 

1000 up, nice going there Cassie you Hub nerd you.

[JarradVZ]

And screw you, my tennis is world-class. My cycling? Well...

[Gasping]

I despise the strike turning violent.

 

The fact that non-striking workers (teachers/medical/etc) are being intimidated is a criminal offence and cannot be condoned.

 

However, we as a nation, are entrusting our future (these children)into the charge of people who are paid a pittance. For 7 years teachers never received an increase. So, if I work for the Government I should just accept this? Knobs to you friend. The last strike resulted in promises being made that were never kept, hence this strike. I must accept this because I am a civil servant? Have a toffee!

 

As a teacher I can get paid 3 times as much as a government teacher? Covie, please can you follow this up with some facts? My brother-in-law is the headmaster at a private school in the northern suburbs of Johannesburg. He gets marginally more than headmasters of a medium sized school. Triple? Not too sure where you are getting your information from.

 

My wife is a qualified teacher with 24 years experience. Why must she go into the private school system? Private schools are not the be-all-and-end-all of education. A number of private schools have matriculants that cannot enter university. The pupils marks are over 80% average and they do not get accepted by SA universities. Why? (Sorry Sias, not because they are white).

 

Their uppity private school system is not recognised by the SA universities, and let me qualify that statement by saying that I am not referring to the IEB here. Solution? Go back and re-do matric at a "crappy" government school. Qualifications are not that closely adhered to in many private schools either. Bed of roses? Yup, just watch for the thorns.

 

This strike is inconveniencing people, and that is exactly what a strike is supposed to do. Once again, I do not condone the intimidation, destruction of property or the violence.

 

I have mostly addressed the teaching profession in this little tirade as I do not know enough about the other fields that are also on strike.

[GrumpyOldGuy]

I dont know how the thread turned into a "I / we should be paid more" issue, but from my understanding this particular strike is not about upping basic wages - its about upping the annual increase, which is already almost double the official inflation rate which sits at 4.5%.

 

Increases, when I was in business were given (a) If the company could afford them (b)If the staff deserved them and ©given in accordance with the official inflation rate.

 

Quite honestly everybody thinks they should be paid more, the reality, of course, is very differant to the employer.

 

I had great staff that cleaned the shop and assisted the artisans, super fellows, but their skill set was worth "XYZ" and thats what I paid them, then I had top notch artisans who had a differant skill set and earned 30 times the cleaners salary, a few of them I didnt even like, but thats what their skill set was worth to me.

 

However, as in any business theres only X amount of money, and like any company I had to "pony up" every month, so if some staff got better offers, I had to say "Cherio and good luck" - thats the way business works - you simply dont hold a gun to your employers head and demand what he cannot pay - you will put him out of business, but I guess that economics is waaay above the average strikers mentality of entitlement.