The Strike: Don't fall for divide-and-conquer

In the lead up to today's strike, there has been an intense push to label the public sector 'greedy' and their pensions 'gold-plated.' An average pension of £7,600 a year ain't buying a lot of gold right now, but it is better than the average private sector pension. The obvious implication they want you to draw is: 'why should they have something you don't?' They want to turn workers against one another with envy, and it's worked pretty well for the last 20 years.

The question people should be asking is: 'why has the government kept its promises, but business hasn't?' We've been told since Thatcher that, if government only got out of the way, then wealth and joy would rain down on all. Well, we've been showered in something golden, but not the kind you can take to the bank. Instead, the value of homes and pensions have been badly damaged by financial gambling and fraud, average pay is down, while executive pay continues its meteoric rise.

This gulf in pay, the worst since the Gilded Age, is not ordained by God. It is a function of declining labour power and sweet insider deals. Taking away the pensions contractually promised to nurses, teachers, civil servants and doctors will not change that fact. People have been working smarter and harder for thirty years, but almost all the gains have gone to the top .1%. Some of that is your money, and they're not going to give it up out of the goodness of their hearts. Instead of playing into their hands by complaining about other workers, get yourself a better deal. That's how this system is supposed to work.