Going on strike to remain in the public sector


Proof perfect that the council workers know they are overpaid.

If they thought they were being underpaid then of course they would be clamouring to be in the private sector, where wages must be higher (must be, for that’s the only way that the public sector workers can be underpaid).

That they will strike to remain in the public sector is thus proof that they consider themselves overpaid in the public sector. It is an acceptance that a private sector company would be able to fill their jobs at lower wages, isn’t it?

Remember your basic economics: revealed preferences. Look at what people do, not what they say.

6 comments on “Going on strike to remain in the public sector

  1. Ah yes, “revealed preferences”, a key economic principle that explains why there were virtually no entirely non-smoking pubs before July 2007.

  2. The Regulatory Service’s (sic) department? Is that the department belonging to the Regulatory Service?

    Proof of an impeccably progressive education there.

  3. and this is where the money comes from:

    In the period under review, Wetherspoon made profit after tax of £22.1 million, but total taxes paid to the government were over £220 million, including VAT of £95.1 million, excise duty of £57.5 million, PAYE and National Insurance of £32.9 million, property taxes of £20.6 million and corporation tax of £11.1 million. This and the previous government have zealously increased taxes and regulation for pubs to levels which are, we believe, unsustainable. This has greatly increased the price of drinks in pubs and has widened the price gap between pubs and supermarkets, with a predictably huge increase in sales volumes for supermarkets, combined with a decrease in sales for pubs. The situation in Britain is in marked contrast to the approach in France, for example, where excise duties are far lower and where VAT, in respect of food in bars and restaurants, has been reduced to 5.5%. This has produced an increase in taxes and jobs for the French economy, through a reduction in the black economy and greater PAYE and corporation tax receipts. In contrast to previous decades, Britain has now become a high tax and regulation environment for business, with the effects of this being seen in many thousands of closed pubs and other small businesses across Britain, as well as a marked increase in unemployment.

  4. Have you seen the fuss in the British press over the strikes called for the holiday periods by the Spanish airport workers?

    To be fair, not the controllers who have just settled for a basic salary of €200.000/year (read £s as our prices are lower. Nive if you can get it).

    They are protesting about privatisation plans and they are prepared to f**k up the entire Spanish tourist season (check the dates, it is amazing) to pursue a political end which is not their responsibility. Incidentally, with problems in the North of Africa, the season was heading to be spectacular, but….

  5. The entire civil service and local government could go on strike for the next 1,000 years and the vast majority of people would only miss the fact that nobody was bossing them around or extorting taxes off them.

    However, the welfare recipients would probably start moaning.

  6. Public sector strikes could be a good way of testing which departments can be axed without serious problems.

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