Jinbabyne - Its not that we want to strike. Its not that we won't exhaust other options first (like what is going on now). What is happening here, is we (at least some of us) are saying that we will strike if the other options have run out and the deal is a bad one. What other choice do we have?
I am very much against strikes in most cases (look at previous threads I have contributed to). I am against London underground striking every year in order to screw more money out of the travelling public and against the wildcat stuff that we have seen before.
I am however, not against striking if 40% of my pension is stolen by a management who can create other ways of solving the problem. If that inconveniences the public, it is a real shame, but as I said above, when other things have been exhausted, what can we do?
I put in a lot of effort for the people who pay my wages - way beyond what my contract states. I don't "work to rule", nor do I want to. Sometimes though, things get so serious that you have to send a serious message. Pensions are too important a thing to just let them be taken.