Published: Wednesday, 25th November, 2009 6:00pm

Resentment between public and private sector workers not healthy

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The chasm between the public and private sectors in this country is growing, and the sense of bitterness and resentment is becoming ever greater.

On Tuesday, the teachers, local authority staff, government staff, nurses - people from all walks of life took to the streets to show Government the extent of their frustration. It must be borne in mind that despite how badly hit so many have been in the pocket, they were, universally, prepared to give up a day's pay to demonstrate how badly the cuts are affecting them - and to demonstrate their upset at being - as they see it - made to carry the can for the mistakes of others.

The private sector argues back at the public service that there is not the same sense of security; and not the same "gilt-edged pension" ahead. The private sector argues too that it has taken pay cuts.

The problem is, there is right on both sides. There are public sector workers who are paid well - as indeed there are private sector workers who are paid well - but there are many who are struggling to make ends meet, and the pension levy imposed on them earlier this year, on top of the levies imposed across the board on all workers, have been hitting people hard.

That said, the private sector could only look on in envy when the benchmarking process was undertaken, and public sector workers got significant pay increases. That would have been fine, but at the same time, the numbers employed in the public sector, at these greater wages, soared - leading to the massive pay bill which Government is now trying to pare down.

From the point of view of those who work hard for a living teaching the nation's children, administering the affairs of the county, the VEC, the state, the departments of agriculture, social welfare and so on, the concept of paycuts is just not acceptable - and especially not so at a time when it appears there are some private sector workers getting pay rises, as is the case with the AIB, and its 3 per cent pay increase to staff - although, ironically, it is now 25 per cent owned by the state.

There is much talk of the need for an end for social partnership. But is this really going to help? It may be time to look for a new type of social partnership, one in which the resentment and jealousy between sectors can be ironed out; where the gap between the public and private sectors is not so great - and we don't mean more benchmarking.

Probably for most people not working in the public sector, the thing they envy most is the generosity of the pension arrangements. And maybe this is where a start could be made at levelling the playing field. The public sector argue that they do pay for their pensions: and indeed they do. But few in the private sector have such great pensions. Perhaps it is time for Government to look at ways of introducing new pension arrangements, that can apply across the board, to all workers.

The state pension in Ireland is better than in a lot of countries: but at the end of the day - or the end of a long working life - isn't going to leave anyone in luxury. Vast numbers in the private sector have no pension provision made at all, because they simply cannot afford it. A strategy must be devised that ensures there is some way of bringing equality into the pension set up.

The private sector is sitting somewhat smugly, confident that at the least, there won't be an income tax increase levied on them in the forthcoming budget, while it looks as if there may be paycuts ahead for the public sector. There's nothing to be gained from this smugness: it is a furtherance of the "them and us" syndrome.

There was a time in this country when the division was not between public and private sector workers, but between PAYE and the salaried classes and farmers. That wasn't helpful either, and at least the PAYE sector now seems to have a greater understanding of how farming operates, and that owning land might make one wealthy, but not necessarily rich.

However, at least the PAYE sector could stand together, teacher beside carpenter; clerical officer beside shop manager; public sector solicitor beside private sector solicitor.

Now all our efforts go in to proving which of us is worse off: private or public sector worker.

There is no longer unity or cohesion. And a society watching greater chasms grow between groups is heading for trouble.