Public sector pay disputes

I know you can't really blame people for simply wanting more money but the arguments they use simply fall flat on their face.

1. Increase in Public money - If the government announces in a budget that they are raising taxes to put more money into improving the Public Services (as the Labour Government have recently here in Britain) you immediatly get all number of Trade Union representatives spouting off that the money should go towards their members to improve morale, and therefore improve the service. Now call me cynical, but I don't believe for a second that if a nurse got an extra grand a year in her pay packet then she'd suddenly turn into Wonder Woman and zoom around the wards, it just aint gonna happen. People do their jobs as a matter of routine however much they get paid. What really makes people more productive is improving things like working conditions, management, facilities and tools to do their job. I've had jobs where I've been paid relatively little, but given it my all simply because I like my job and the people around me, then I've had other jobs that have been really well paid for someone my age, and I've just arsed around all day.
2. Arguing for Inflation busting pay awards - When I see on the news that a Union has rejected a pay offer because it's only something like 3% above the rate of inflation I just get angry and confused. Don't these Unions have Economists? I only did Economics at A-Level and this argument is just plain stupid. Say you got 20% of the countries workforce working in the public sector and they all get an inflation busting pay rise, all this will do is fuel inflation in the future. More people have more money, they spend this money, demand increases, prices go up, hence inflation. Then they ask for another inflation busting pay rise and it's just a vicious cycle. It's just like saying, oh lets print more money because prices have gone up, anyone remember the hyperinflation in Germany in the 1930's with people carrying around their money in wheelbarrows?
3. We can't afford to buy a house near to where we work - This is an argument used by many Unions in the London area. If you didn't know, house prices in the UK in general have absolutely rocketed in the past few years, so getting on the property ladder is pretty damn difficult for most people.
   However, (and this is kinda like my last point) giving people more money to buy houses isn't the answer, this will only increase the demand for houses and push prices up even further. The only solution is to increase the supply of houses. So this argument is pointless.
4. I should be paid more because I help people - Ermmm I dont thinkso. Newsflash, your pay is not determind by the number of bandages you put on people. You do perform a valuable service but this value is determind by how many other people have the same skills as you, and how much other people need that particular service, as always it's down to demand and supply. If you were the only nurse in the country then you'd be paid a shitload, but that aint so, so get used to it.
5. You don't HAVE to do that job - I just don't understand some people. They apply for a job, they are told what it involves and what they'll be paid. Then once they've got the job they go and start moaning that they aren't paid enough, and threaten to go on strike and form picket lines. I mean if you think you aren't being paid enough, go and get another job that pays what you want to earn, simple as that. I mean, I wouldn't become a burger flipper mainly because they earn £3.80 an hour. I wouldn't apply to Burger King, then start complaining that I wasn't on £20,000 a year.

Okay, bit of a rant I know, and yes, I have worked in the Public Sector, for Islington Council, and I QUIT! You know why, I didn't like the job and I didn't like how much I was being paid, so shove that in your pipe and smoke it!

A reply to Leon Marconi

1. Re Increase in Public money
   Currently an NHS nurse's pay starts at only £9,735 a year, which if you do the maths, works out at barely above £5 an hour, only a little more than what you might expect to get paid working in McDonald’s – yet nurses are adults and professionals, not school-aged burger flippers. I think this is clearly pretty poor pay. If you want to discuss whether it is possible to be motivated in a job where you get inadequate pay (admittedly working conditions are a big factor as well), I would cite Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs. Simply put, if you can’t afford to put a roof over your head, you won’t get job satisfaction however rewarding the job is.

2. Re Arguing for Inflation busting pay awards
   Well, seeing as you are going to use silly rhetoric like the hyperinflation example, I will make rhetoric myself. Perhaps the cost-push inflation could be balanced by reducing the number of 'fat cat', inflation busting pay rises received by company directors? The argument in favour of the huge salaries enjoyed by such bosses is that if you want quality people, you have to pay. Don't we want skilled nurses and teachers? The point here is not that everyone should get increases above the rate of inflation, just that the NHS employees who have been underpaid for a long time deserve some catching up, especially seeing as the health budget is to double. Another point - as Catchpole pointed out, the job of a trade union isn't to achieve a balance, it's to get the best deal for its workers. And by the way, the hyperinflation in Germany wasn't caused by public sector workers calling for a pay deal 3% above the rate of inflation.

3. Re We can't afford to buy a house near to where we work
   You’re right, making more housing available would be a good solution, but there is another point to be made. Here I will take a position more similar to your own free market views, which is this: Because of supply and demand, salaries are higher in London as the cost of living is higher, so people need more incentive to work there. So, the public sector would be clumsy in responding to this if it didn't pay more in London, as private businesses do. Bear in mind it is particularly important that we have doctors, police, teachers etc. in London as they are essential services. If a company chooses to locate a call centre outside of London, so what?

4. Re I should be paid more because I help people
   You point out that wages are determined by demand and supply. I would point out again that the government isn’t properly responding to demand and supply. Why do you think there is a massive teacher shortage? (50,000 teachers short I think). The same applies to nurses. It is well known the NHS has trouble recruiting and hanging on to staff, so much so that they have to resort to recruiting outside the UK.

5. Re You don't HAVE to do that job
   Well, a doctor doesn't have to be a doctor for his sake, but let's hope for everyone else's sake we have some doctors. No one HAS to do that job, but someone has to, and they should receive adequate pay.