Sir, – As one who has benefited from public service pay and conditions, I would like to disagree with Donal McGrath when he says that public service unions deserve "contempt" (June 23rd).
Public-service unions were around the various negotiating tables during the 2000-2009 period when deals on pay increases, including benchmarking, were agreed. Some of these increases were subsequently declared by independent research to be unjustified.
And if that were not enough, the collapse and bailout in 2010 emphasised the point.
To their credit, public service unions subsequently renegotiated the deals and continue to honour these renegotiated agreements.
That is happening at a time when it seems that every vested interest in the country is day after day, week in and week out, screaming for taxpayers’ money to be spent on their particular needs.
The public-sector unions have an honourable history in the efforts to rescue this country from the disaster of the collapse. – Yours, etc,
A LEAVY,
Sutton, Dublin 13.