The rumble of war drums has now reached such a pitch within the union camp that it would be difficult for some of the more vocal union leaders to back down now without a significant level of strike action.As Unison go to ballot across 1 million public sector members & others such as GMB & Unite follow we can expect serious industrial action the end of November on the issue of pensions.One District Council Leader said to me that the only benefit the tax payer would see from sustained strike action (which won't change anything) is the payroll saving made by not paying staff who are on strike - in large organisations this will quickly add up!Pensions have to be reformed, the level of benefit historically and currently available to employees is not sustainable and not available to most people in the private sector who contribute significantly through taxation.A staff member said to me that he paid tax as well, of course he does, but public sector workers contribute a % of their total cost - it is the private sector who pay the vast bulk of the employee costs in the public sector & it simply is not fair to expect there to be a continuation of pensions benefit in the public sector which is not available to those that have to work to pay for them.
