Why public-sector strikes are an insult to the country’s hardworking, self-employed taxpayers

SIR – I am self-employed. If I do not work, I do not get paid. It is now too easy for people in the public sector to strike and withdraw their labour. Time for change. Jack Marriott Churt, Surrey

SIR – It seems clear that Mick Lynch, general secretary of the RMT, and his acolytes believe that the only “working” people are those represented by their union and the others that are planning strikes over the next few weeks. But the reality is that there are many other working people outside the public sector who understand that, due to the pandemic and the war in Ukraine, many of the wage demands are unrealistic and we all have to tighten our belts accordingly.

The posturing of Mr Lynch and others is frankly disgusting and these politically motivated strikes should be a source of shame. Those who are planning to strike should be asking themselves who pays their wages. It is not the Government but hard-pressed taxpayers – the genuine “working” people.

Nigel Hindle

Tytherington, Wiltshire

SIR – I am on the side of the railway workers when it comes to changed practices. For older people, the physically challenged and those suffering from poor eyesight, closing ticket offices is a disaster. Removing guards from trains is also a risk to the public. What happens if someone is taken ill?

I am over 90 years old and, if I travel, use customer care to help me on and off the train. The guard is told where I’m sitting and when I need help to alight. Without this I will have to rely on other passengers who, though generally helpful, are not obliged to assist me.

On different occasions I have had to get the guard to deal with rowdy and drunken travellers, a stolen suitcase and a young woman passing out.

Not all the travelling public are young and tech-savvy. Disabled access is more than a wide doorway.

Angela Lanyon

Worcester SIR – Do all those who are conducting “Operation Deny Christmas” and ruining yet another festive season after Covid did for the last two realise what a boost this is giving to Vladimir Putin, whose defeat is key to getting inflation down and their pay up?

But let them not worry: we can always bring in the military, who cannot strike. For the pay these strikers are on, even before a rise, you will probably get two or three soldiers. Col Hamish de Bretton-gordon (retd) Tisbury, Wiltshire

SIR – On Christmas Day in the 1950s, I went home after being on call at my hospital overnight, a duty for which I was not paid. I trust that all the striking workers are not getting paid for killing the Christmas spirit in 2022.

Dr Robert J Leeming

Coventry, Warwickshire SIR – When I retired from general practice in 1983, bed-blocking by patients who could not be discharged from hospital because they had nowhere to go to convalesce was a serious problem. Since then it has become infinitely worse – to the extent that ambulancemen and women are having to spend large parts of their days and nights with patients as they wait for beds to become available in hospitals. Meanwhile, patients in the community in desperate need of their help go unattended.

No wonder ambulance crews are fed up, demoralised, disgusted and exhausted. Good luck to them. They deserve a pay rise.

Dr Andrew Norman

Poole, Dorset

SIR – The current strikes and their planned dates confirm my belief that union leaders are not concerned about their members, or the general public, but use strikes to beat the government. Mike Aston Stourbridge, Worcestershire