The reaction of the media and the average bloke on the street seems to be that MP's are grossly overpaid layabouts that are now robbing us, poor taxpayers of even more money
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I take your point about the basic wages, but there are few MPs living solely on those. Many have additional payments for their cabinet position, or other duties
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For MP's who have used it to abuse the system yes they deserve to be pulled up on it, but the way this is being done is painting every MP as corrupt.
I don't think you can say someone doing manual labour does more hours of hard work than any MP or anyone else in an office job will ever do. I've worked on sites doing manual labour and I'd come home physically tired but mentally ready to go out for the night. I find my actual job much more tiring than any manual labour. I can't leave my work at work, I'm thinking about it at 11pm, I get home at 7ish and I just want to crash for the night....also I've quite regularly in the past not finished till 10pm or later. Accountants and Auditors most month ends will be in the office until midnight. (I use accountants and auditors as I know a number of them)
I don't think the issue was manual labour v office job. George worked 5am-10pm, with no expenses, for £22 grand. Maybe some MPs do work that many hours, but they have much more opportunity to 'flex off' early than George did, and they get paid nearly 3 times as much plus expenses. Even if a cerebral job is more tiring than a physical one, I don't think it's 3 times more tiring!
Sure, the non-corrupt MPs might deserve more cash for their jobs, if you compare them to IT professionals and acoountants. But try comparing them with teachers and nurses and see how they fare. Private industry pays more than public service.
OK I'm going to creep a little off topic, but my example of the head of department was actually the IT manager in a small university. His basic pay was 77k + london waiting + benifits.
The key workers argument is always going to be used, and yes they deserve more pay and we need more, but there's under 700 MP's in the entire UK.
When I was working in the public sector I was earning 8k more than I do now, had better holiday, a more secure job and an amazing pension. I was also guaranteed a pay rise twice a year. You don't have any of that in the private sector and gone are the days of being payed more as most public sector jobs are aligned with industry via independent commissions.
Absolutely. I have a clause in my contract that states I must have my MD's permission to take any other work - be it consultancy, speaking engagements, whatever. I've made 4 formal requests for 2nd income work in 2 years, all of which would never impact on my main job, and all of which were approved.
However, we're talking about an hour here and an afternoon at the weekend there, and a few hundred quid's worth of work in total tops.
I think most private sector managers have a similar clause.
Personaly I dont think they work as hard as people in other areas of employment do, and they still get a lot less.
From my own personel experience, a qualified VN(veterinary nurse) can be expected to "sacrifice social life" for his/her work, which is both physically,emotionally and mentaly tiring. They do this for what is quite a low wage in the medical industry and certainly a wage that is nowhere near what a politician may earn. I know of many VNs (those who are practise based and locums) who are expected to travel anywhere up to 3 hours to get to work. 50+ hours a week, most often including nights and weekends, and being on call for emergencies.And thats not including continuing development(training).
Of course if they tried getting a pay rise they would no doubt run into the "but the veterinary industry is overpaid" argument.
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I do agree with your general point though.
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I don't think you can say someone doing manual labour does more hours of hard work than any MP or anyone else in an office job will ever do.
I've worked on sites doing manual labour and I'd come home physically tired but mentally ready to go out for the night.
I find my actual job much more tiring than any manual labour. I can't leave my work at work, I'm thinking about it at 11pm, I get home at 7ish and I just want to crash for the night....also I've quite regularly in the past not finished till 10pm or later.
Accountants and Auditors most month ends will be in the office until midnight.
(I use accountants and auditors as I know a number of them)
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Sure, the non-corrupt MPs might deserve more cash for their jobs, if you compare them to IT professionals and acoountants. But try comparing them with teachers and nurses and see how they fare. Private industry pays more than public service.
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If you compare them with head teachers in london then look at this diagram.
http://www.teachernet.gov.uk/cpdtool/static_pages/salary_structure_diagram.htm
The key workers argument is always going to be used, and yes they deserve more pay and we need more, but there's under 700 MP's in the entire UK.
When I was working in the public sector I was earning 8k more than I do now, had better holiday, a more secure job and an amazing pension. I was also guaranteed a pay rise twice a year.
You don't have any of that in the private sector and gone are the days of being payed more as most public sector jobs are aligned with industry via independent commissions.
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Also if they do raise MP's salaries they should ban 2nd jobs. If you're an MP you're an MP thats it.
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However, we're talking about an hour here and an afternoon at the weekend there, and a few hundred quid's worth of work in total tops.
I think most private sector managers have a similar clause.
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From my own personel experience, a qualified VN(veterinary nurse) can be expected to "sacrifice social life" for his/her work, which is both physically,emotionally and mentaly tiring. They do this for what is quite a low wage in the medical industry and certainly a wage that is nowhere near what a politician may earn.
I know of many VNs (those who are practise based and locums) who are expected to travel anywhere up to 3 hours to get to work.
50+ hours a week, most often including nights and weekends, and being on call for emergencies.And thats not including continuing development(training).
Of course if they tried getting a pay rise they would no doubt run into the "but the veterinary industry is overpaid" argument.
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