Time to take a hit
Thus they still have a job and 90 per cent of their previous income, rather than being out of work and trying to live on unemployment benefit. This seems to me to be a sensible approach under the circumstances.
So an obvious solution to the present problem is for everyone in the public sector to take an equitable pay cut to absorb the overall shortfall in the money available.
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Hide AdThis would not address the problem of overstaffing, of course, nor pensions, but it would mean that people still have jobs, a living wage, all the present services would continue, and the government would continue to receive taxes. The results would be immediate.
It is not a new idea. Germany and Holland did it successfully during the 1980s. Ireland has recently adopted it. What is stopping us in Britain doing it too?
GK CONNELLY
Horsburgh Gardens
Balerno