on 26/1/01 7:58 pm, Joshua Bell at [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:
> Julia Thompson <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
>>
>> Nurses, teachers, firefighters, police -- all are getting the short end of
>> the stick.
>
> Since they're all (except some nurses) government employees, what's the best
> solution?
>
> - Put it to a popular vote - but these typically get defeated or are for
> miniscule funding increases - especially if they were a 200% raise of the
> sort we're saying these people should get.
>
> - Let it work its way through a legislative process - but people complain
> about higher taxes, so this is a unlikely to happen.
>
> - Have a benevolent dictator (for now) decrees they all get pay raises?
>
> - Put out a collection hat.
>
> - Privatize these industries; the government can be the client if necessary.
>
> - Others?
In the UK the long slow erosion of the relative incomes of some groups of
government employees (primarily teachers and nurses) has led to acute
staffing shortages, leading to hospitals having to cancel some operations,
and some schools running a four-day week. The short-term solution for the
shortage of nurses has been to hire trained nurses from countries like
Australia (where for some reason there is a surplus of trained nurses) as
contract workers. The longer term part is improvements in pay and conditions
way above the increments other government workers get. [1]
In Scotland (which has its own parliament) teachers have accepted a new pay
deal worth around 23% over the next three years, with new teachers' starting
salary being increased by around £6000 PA (~ $9000 US) and the ceiling for
teachers who *don't* go into administration rising to about £30000 (~ $45000
US). [2] This makes the starting salary for a teacher about the same as a
police constable AFAIK.
Of course the police force is also under manned...
[1] Which is guaranteed to annoy other government employees.
[2] Which will tempt many graduates of English universities to come to
Scotland to train as teachers (Scotland has a different education
system/syllabus to the rest of the UK. And a different legal system. And
different public holidays. And...)
--
William T Goodall
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
http://www.wtgab.demon.co.uk
