Madam, – It is a sad day indeed for Ireland when, on the day our elected leaders went on bended knee to hand what we don’t have to the banks, your Letters page and many others reflect the astounding success of the campaign to create and expand an artificial divide between the PAYE workers of the public sector and their counterparts in the private sector.
For the record, most public servants are low-waged workers who pay full tax through PAYE, receive no breaks or benefits not received by others and have suffered at least 25 per cent pay cuts over the last year.
When fighting for our rights we are, like any other person, fighting to pay the mortgage, the rent, the heating, the food, the school, the doctors, the whole darn shooting match. Which will be more difficult now that this “deal”, which many are already using to demonise us yet again, will rescind our right to take action on behalf of a huge number of low-income earners. Labour leaders of years gone by would spin in their graves with utter contempt for the worthless excuses for union officials that have succeeded them.
To say we urgently need a changing of the guard is an understatement. – Yours, etc,
Madam, – The civil and public sector workers have been offered “no further pay cuts until 2014”.
Leaving public versus private sector issues to one side, as a barometer of short-term economic recovery this is hardly optimistic. – Yours, etc,