BBC Radio Five Live's "Drive" show seemed to be giving an object lesson in ignorance today when within the space of 10 minutes today they claimed two things that were not true.
Firstly they claimed that MP's were set to get an extra £10,000 a year, then they stated "on top of their wages". Now I am on record as being no fan of this £10,000 a year allowance for MP's to keep in touch with constituents, but what it most certainly isn't is a £10,000 bonus to MP's wages, which is what Radio Five Live were implying.
Secondly, was the comments they made about teachers pay discussing Gordon Brown's statement that people should accept lower wages in order to help reduce inflation. Their education correspondent claimed that teachers had "done very well in recent years from pay rises" and went on to claim that "teachers had done well this year because they got a two year deal guaranteeing them a 2.5% pay rise this year".
Actually, if he knew the facts, he would have known that the teacher's pay deal was a two and a half year deal, meaning that last year we had to wait an extra 6 months before we got our less than inflation pay rise, and this year we can expect 2.5%, again less than inflation, and hardly a "good deal". Yes it may be better than other public sector workers, but to claim teachers had done "well in the last six years" was a joke.
1 comment:
The MPs voting for money to help them keep their seats is disgusting. Pity Five Live didn't put it like this...
Teachers havn't been getting a good deal for 30 or more years.
My father started off, 34 years ago, with equivalent pay to a Police Sargeant. No need to tell you how how far they have diverged...
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