I am feckin sick of hearing unions and individuals complaining about the size of their pay packages in the Public Service. One chap was saying he was earning €38,000 and "was struggling", TOUGH SHITE you chose that career.

Additionally, you have a job for life, coupled with a final salary pension. Should Mr Public Service want more money get another job like the rest of us.

Correct, of course they also enjoy other benefits we don't usually have in the real world like flexi hours, and not having to work extra hours for free.

It's not uncommon for people, white collar, usually in the same ball park salary plus as your whinger, working 50 to over 100 hours per week for no extra pay. Unheard of in the public sector.

Also, they can do a reasonably shit job, provide a sub standard level of service, have no concept of who the real customer is and continue "gainfully" employed for their lives.

The best part - we in the real world have to work longer, i.e. retirement age in the UK increased to 69 so the government can defer state pension payments in the private sector and raise more revenue in taxes to pay for the final salary scheme pensions of the public sector, who will still be able to retire at 65.

And as a side comment - the minimum wage is likley to increase to £6 an hour, representing c. 4.5% increase - while again, real world workers, at most, are likely to get c. 3% to cover inflation (doesn't quite cover it!) if they're lucky.