Thu, 4 Nov 2010

Sympathy low towards strikers

Striking public sector workers will lose public sympathy if they cause disruption to essential services, despite the chancellor announcing public sector workers earning more than £21,000 face a pay freeze while almost 500,000 jobs could go.

Some 74% of employees agree that as the private sector face tough times then public sector employees who embark upon strike action and who cause disruption to the general public will lose sympathy.

The Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD) quarterly survey of employee attitudes revealed that the working public accepts the overall case for cuts. Almost two thirds of respondents agreed with the statement that ‘these are tough times and the deficit needs to be reduced through cuts to public spending’, in contrast to 16% disagreeing.

However, there was a difference in attitude between the private and public sector, with 69% of private sector staff agreeing with this statement compared to only 50% of those in the public sector.

The survey also revealed that half of the respondents were not willing to lose pay to go on strike.

Mike Emmott, CIPD Employee Relations Adviser, said: ‘Trade unions must understand that many private sector employees have already suffered pay freezes or cuts, job losses and cuts to pension entitlement, and will be sensitive to any rhetoric by union leaders threatening strike action which does not appear to appreciate the sacrifices already made by those in the private sector.

‘However, the Government too must understand that it also has a key role to help prevent major public sector disputes through the language it uses and how information and messages are timed and communicated,’ he added.