UK's Unions Living in a Fantasy World

First there was the trade union movement in the cossetted public sector, brimming with its usual mixture of noisy entitlement and whining grievance. Yesterday’s strikes across schools and the civil service were a clear demonstration of that self-serving mentality, since most public employees enjoy far better pensions, job security, salaries and conditions than their private sector counterparts who have to pay for the whole racket through their taxes. But away from this land of subsidised privilege we could see the toughness of life in the commercial world, where the workforce is not protected by the taxpayer but instead has to cope with the harsh realities of competition. Yesterday, as tens of thousands of state workers marched out in a collective moan over the suggestion that they should contribute a little more to their final salary pensions, Lloyds TSB announced that no fewer than 15,000 jobs are to be lost in its retailing arm.