Editorial: There is a lack of informed debate in Northern Ireland on the merit of strikes by public sector workers

Public sector workers are planning widespread industrial action next Thursday. The economist, Dr Esmond Birnie, says it will amount to, “something approaching a general strike”.

Yesterday, the union Unite confirmed that transport workers will join teachers, nurses, civil servants and others when they down tools on the 18th of January.

It is understandable that many employees feel aggrieved that their wages have not kept pace with the cost of living.

However, in Northern Ireland, our public sector remains large and, in areas like public transport, private companies are less involved than in the rest of the UK.

Even allowing for this, bus drivers, for example, could choose to transfer their skills to the commercial sector. The fact that they do not do this en masse is testament to the fact that Translink provides, for example, generous pension provision in the shape of the NI local government scheme.

This kind of “defined benefit” pension generally involves a high contribution from one’s employer and means that workers enjoy a dependable income for the rest of their lives.

By contrast, most private sector employees rely on contribution defined schemes whose value fluctuates with the stock market.

The strike next week will doubtless generate strong views on both sides of the argument.

It is a great pity, though, that we do not in general have a more informed debate in Northern Ireland about the benefits public workers receive, the size of the public sector we fund, and the reason that reforms in the rest of the country have not been replicated here.

That kind of discussion would surely equip us better to judge the merits or otherwise of industrial action.

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