Leader: It’s the wrong time to make things worse

IN AN eerie reminder of the strike-torn 1970s, much of public-sector Scotland was shut down yesterday in a one-day strike that saw the closure of almost all the country’s state schools, the cancellation of hospital operations and disruption to public transport.

What was arguably most troubling was not just the numbers involved but the rhetoric of STUC general secretary Graeme Smith. Unless the government gets back to “serious” negotiations, he warned, “then I’m afraid this may be just the start”. In fact, serious negotiations were already under way when this strike was called.

Support for the strike in Scotland left in little doubt the strength of feeling among trade unionists, teachers in particular, many of whom have had to take on extra duties because of cuts. But the strong opposition to the action from many workers in the private sector needs also to be acknowledged. In the past three years, many private sector workers have had to endure redundancies and lay-offs, together with pay freezes and reductions in their pension benefits.

Indeed, company final salary pension schemes have almost totally disappeared. Many staff are now reliant on personal pension plans that have suffered amid rock- bottom interest rates and stock market falls. They are now being asked to contribute through taxes to pension arrangements in the public sector that are, in many cases, more generous than their own. Objection to strike action has also been reinforced by the trend for average public sector pay to exceed that in the private sector, undermining the case for special treatment by way of higher pension benefits.

At the same time, many families suffered disruption yesterday as schools were closed, forcing thousands of working parents to make alternative arrangements to look after their children, if they were not forced to lose a day’s work through no fault of their own.

This has not won sympathy for the strikers. However, the depth of union feeling was evident and it owed much to a sense of unfairness, in particular over the continuing bad example set by many chief executives of large companies who continue to award themselves hefty bonus and salary increases when the economy overall is on the cusp of recession.

Senior managers as much as public sector unions must now wake up to the fact that we are in a totally new and difficult era in which debt and borrowing have to be brought under control.

Neither boardrooms nor large swathes of the public sector can be immune from the tough times now upon us. Private sector bosses need to take care not to inflame the situation further while the unions should return to negotiations, recognising the gravity of the situation starkly set out by the independent Office for Budget Responsibility.

This is not time for action that only makes an already bad economic situation even worse.