Sir,

In response to Gareth Dunn's letter of 6th July 'Public sector workers should look at the bigger picture', I would like to suggest that he should re-think the picture that he seems to be painting using a somewhat lopsided canvas.

He began his letter by noting that 'mainly teachers' have been involved in recent public sector strikes. However, teachers are but one element of the public sector workforce wishing to draw attention to the current coalition's punishment of public sector workers for a context brought upon us largely by private sector greed.

While the coalition try to convince the general public that the strike took place while 'negotiations' were in hand, that does not in itself paint a wholly accurate picture of reality.

For example, public sector unions and workers have had no say in the current nought per cent pay freeze, neither was either party consulted on the change to public pension calculations from RPI to CPI.

Perhaps Mr Dunn could heed the words of Danny Alexander, who announced on the 17th June the scrapping of final salary schemes and a rise in the pension contributions of employees in the teacher's pension scheme (TPS). Is that 'negotiation'?

I would also like to know what Mr Dunn sees as the 'perks' that teachers get in these austere times?

And while he is making a list of these, perhaps he could also think about the 'perks' that can be accrued by some, but certainly not all, private sector workers – the term 'bonus' springs to mind.

He should remember here, of course, that payments in the private sector are paid for, in part, by public sector workers, when they buy goods and services.

I am certainly cognisant of the coalition's wish to drive a wedge between the public and private sector workforce and Mr Dunn appears to be a ready recruit to this position.

He also seems to be placing all the blame for the current issues over public sector pensions on the previous government, noting that 'we voted the people responsible into Westminster'.

I didn't vote for either the previous or the current coalition government. I'm one of the many who have become apolitical because I constantly watch those in the middle ground being asked to pick up the tab for errors over which we have no direct control over.

However, I do have the right to strike, and as a member of UCU, withdrew my labour on Thursday 30th June.

As it happens, the proposed changes will have minimum impact on me at a personal level. Rather, I took that action in the hope of supporting younger colleagues and to help persuade the general public, including individuals like Mr Dunn, that there is need to look beyond the public-private divide that the coalition is attempting to engender.

It is important to recognise that it isn't as simple as saying, as Mr Dunn does, that as a country we are 'broke'.

In terms of the TPS, it is about the decisions that are being taken without due course to evidence that clearly indicates that the teachers pensions scheme is not broke.

Indeed, the House of Commons Select Committee and the National Audit Office have both confirmed that the cost of public sector pension schemes will fall as planned.

Indeed, Lord Hutton's final report says that public sector pensions, if unchanged from now, would fall from the current 1.9 per cent of GDP to 1.4 per cent of GDP in 2060.

As such, the Teachers Pension Scheme is seen to be viable and affordable for the next 50 years.

As part of what Mr Dunn defines as a 'highly-educated white collar workforce', I will continue to support union action, sanctioned by vote, when, having weighed up all the evidence, it is clear that my living standards are under attack by a government that while not seeing all the facts, fails to see the bigger picture.

Jim Newcomb

(Whitchurch)