Public-sector pay

sir – Government employees enjoy pay scales (Letters, September 14) that include numerous automatic increments – 20 when I worked for the Central Electricity Generating Board.

The lie about government employees’ pay being restricted to increases of 1 per cent was exposed by Jacob Rees-mogg on Question Time.

The gross pay of new employees in 2010 should be compared with that of those employed on the same pay scale grade today. We, the taxpayers, can then ascertain whether government staff have been mistreated in comparison to those in the private sector. If they have not, then their case for “industrial action” is wrong. Gordon Black

Stockport, Cheshire

sir – I get rather tired of letters bashing the public-sector work ethic.

For the whole of my working life in the NHS, like many of my colleagues, I hardly ever worked my contracted hours – always many more, and usually unpaid. My private-sector friends thought I was mad to do so. Adrian Waller

Woodsetts, South Yorkshire