We don’t trust any of these power brokers

YOUR editorial headlined ‘Public sector action — Recovery threatened by strikes’ (March 9) quotes Peter McLoone as saying “everything had to be on the agenda in any talks”. While I agree, this must also include an awareness of a number of harsh truths.

All have been party to the destruction of our economy and, as power brokers during the so-called boom times, they showed little regard for the common good. All sides, therefore, must refrain from looking to take the high moral ground, especially when talking to the media, because we don’t trust any of the parties involved. During the boom times, while all sides spoke of the need for reform in the public service, nothing was done and we are now left with a slash-and-burn policy that will be termed “reform” but which is already doing serious damage to critical services while permitting the continuation of work practices that are undermining respect for the public service as a whole while — as you said — threatening any prospect of recovery. The weak, the handicapped, the vulnerable are going to have no clout at the bargaining table and are already paying a disproportionate price for the recklessness of the so-called social partners.

Indeed everything should be on the table, including the permanency of employment in a public sector that eats up a huge slice of the national income in its own pay and pensions. Why should someone employed in the public sector for, say, 20 years have a salary that in some cases can be 40% or more than that of someone in the same position for a shorter time, doing the same job every bit as competently and, as often as not, much more enthusiastically?