The bankers caused the crisis but it is the public servants who pay the price. They have now had seven years of pay cuts while the fat cats have got fatter on tax cuts and bonuses.
When there is a terrorist attack we expect the police to step in and risk their lives; we expect the nurses and doctors to flood into hospitals in their free time to save lives; to work tirelessly.
When there is a fire we expect the fire-fighters to go where no other human would dare – into the raging infernos, to risk their lives to save others.
When we want a good future for our children we expect teachers to go the extra mile, to mark the work, to plan the lessons and to teach brilliantly. We expect them to put in the sixty hour weeks for our children and do it with a smile.
We expect the refuse collectors, sewage workers and street cleaners to do all the messy work with the smelly stuff.
When there is a conflict we send in the troops, the sailors and airmen to risk their lives to protect us. They die for us.
When there is a need these people are heroes. Yet when we don’t think about them they are treated like shit.
Unlike the bankers, comedians, footballers, businessmen and entertainers our essential public servants work long hours for little reward or recognition. They are ridiculed and made to feel like parasites living off the efforts of others.
That is simply wrong. They are always heroes. They are the ones picking up the body parts after the accidents, comforting the victims and relatives, dealing with danger, keeping people safe, giving them a future, and dealing with the smelly stuff that the rest of us avoid.
This government should be ashamed of the way they have treated our heroes. Our public servants aren’t responsible for the country’s debt. They deserve better.
All the best are leaving. They’ll be a lot of bleating when there are no quality teachers to secure little Johnny’s future, no doctors to operate on your cancer or stitch up your wounds, no nurses to tend to your bed pans or change your dressings, no army to protect you, no police to deal with crime and terrorism, no ladder appearing at your window when the flames lick, and piles of stinking garbage in the streets.
Take the cap of public sector pay. Heroes deserve justice and fair pay. Pay peanuts and you get monkeys.