We are hearing in the news that various elements of the public sector are planning strikes over a number of causes but many relate to pay and pensions. There is of course the allegation that they intend to teach the Coalition Government a lesson.
I have two main issues with this.
Firstly, pay and pensions.
Many public sector employees will find that for someone with their skills the private sector will pay no more and sometimes less for a comparable job. Furthermore it is clear that whilst the public sector is experiencing pay freezes and pay restraints, so is the private sector - so there is no inequality there then.
Public sector unions are complaining about the rise in pension age - welcome to the real world where the higher age already applies to many in the private sector - and as for the concern that pensions are to be based on an average of earnings over a number of years prior to retirement rather than earnings at retirement then they should spare a thought for those who have pensions invested in the stock market. What is the saying? Oh, yes 'the value of investments may go down as well as up'!
Secondly, and this is a real worry, teaching the government a lesson.
Bringing the country to it's knees can only be detrimental to the fragile economic recovery. It is historical fact that we are in a financial mess as a country so there is no point arguing over whose fault that is. We should look forward to how we can recover. Regardless of which party or combination of parties came into government at the last election, hard decisions would have to have been made. We must all work together to sort this mess out. Strikes may express the concerns of those striking, but if we have a concerted season of strikes as has been suggested then only harm can result.
Protest by all means, but let's try not to damage the recovery.
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