Public sector willing to endure fair share of pain

LIKE most people I am very concerned about our economy. The current talks involving the social partners do little to allay such concerns.

As a teacher I feel strongly that the public sector seems to be taking an unfair amount of blame for our woes when in fact much of it lies with the banking sector and Government.

However, I realise we must all pull our weight to get us out of this mess.

So I was surprised to hear David Begg of ICTU disagree with IBEC on suspending the national wage agreement.

Having conducted a straw poll among colleagues I would like to inform ICTU that none of us expects a pay rise for many years to come.

These people are meant to be representing us at the “framework” talks and are giving the general public the view that we are out of touch with reality.

Let me tell them most public sector workers are bracing themselves for the proposed cuts and will accept pay freezes, etc, if the savings are used wisely and not frittered away as in the past.

Siobhán McCarthy

Josselin

Woodleigh Park

Model Farm Road

Cork