WORKERS beware! Councillor Nathan Desmond reveals the true colours of the Tory Party in his savage "leech" attack (Letters, November 24).
He heaps contempt on public sector workers who perform vital jobs for very little financial reward.
Indeed, almost half the council's workforce earns less than £16,000 a year, nowhere near the national average.
The least that this very valuable workforce can expect is a decent pension at the end of their working life - £71 a week on average for male workers, and £31 on average for female workers, hardly seems like a blood-sucking amount.
The local Labour Party believes that workers are entitled to a fair and decent pension.
Councillor Desmond's arrogance is beyond belief. The reason we have unions is to protect workers from him and others who share his archaic beliefs.
We support the action of Unison in seeking a settlement which is in line with other public sector workers.
We value and appreciate our workforce and call on Councillor Desmond to resign immediately.
LYNN HYDE, MIKE KELLY
CHRIS NICHOLLS, JAMIE SHAW
Labour Group,
As a public sector worker I feel compelled to write to correct some of the ill-informed points made by Councillor Desmond.
He states that public sector workers can retire at 60 on an indexed-linked pension.
This implies that they are in some way receiving preferential treatment.
This is not the case. We still have to wait until 65 to receive our state pension, the same as everybody else.
The reason we are able to retire at 60 is that we have paid six per cent of our income into a "company pension" throughout our employment.
This is no different to any private sector worker paying into a private pension scheme.
Secondly, the 4.1 per cent pay increase awarded to public sector workers was, in fact, 8.90 per cent over a three-year period, equating to 2.75 per cent, 2.95 per cent and 2.95 per cent annual increases.
This in no way compensates for the vast existing differential between public and private sector pay.
When starting their employment many in the public sector see the promised pension scheme as a partial reimbursement for such poor wages.
CHRIS YOUNG
Audley Drive, Kidderminster
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