Since it is a rather wet and windy morning, preventing me going into the garden (so upsetting) I thought I'd put in my tuppence worth about the forthcoming strike on Wednesday.
I'm not a member of any union. Never have been and never will be. While they have their place, some of their leaders are overly militant and will call a strike if someone breaks wind in the wrong place. There are times when union leaders seem detached from the real world. Not difficult if you are on a subtantial salary.
Politicians too are detached, and in this current dispute even more so.
There is no need to go into details about the dispute. There are few people who do not realise what is happening. But if you look into some of the unions who are taking part, there is an indication as to how strongly people feel.
The Immigration Services Union has never taken industrial action (according to their representative) in it's 28 year history. What does that tell you? This is not on the face of it The Brothers of Arthur Scargill Reborn. Far from it. But they see themselves hard done by while the politicians who are pushing through these changes enjoy pension schemes unheard of elsewhere.
What is becoming apparent is that the unions do not seem to have firm support from any of the major political parties. Ed Milliband is dithering, the Tories and Lib Dems are playing hardball, although to be fair they are the Westminster government. Even the SNP will not make any firm offers of support.
So politicians remain detached from the public, let alone the unions.
A friend of my wife said this morning all she wants is enough money to live comfortably, without worrying if she has enough to heat her house, feed her family and travel to work.
I think you will find most people feel the same.
Whether or not people agree with the strike is irrelevant. What is clear is that many people feel that politicians are not listening.
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