The thing about being seen as a soft touch is that you are likely to be touched again and again until you make it plain that you’re anything but. The public service has no choice but to react to the threat of pay-cuts—after having already been hit by a previous pay-cut in the shape of the pension levy. Whatever action is taken has to sting sufficiently to make the government think twice about targeting them again. Otherwise there is no point in taking action.
The trade unions are in a somewhat different situation. They are concerned about wages and pensions—especially their own wages and pensions. This is quite understandable in the circumstances. The great fear of the unions at the moment is that a failure to adequately respond to the threat of new pay cuts will lead to a haemorrhaging of membership. The trick the unions have to pull off is to convince their public service membership that they are going all out against any further impositions, while at the same time skirting the possibility of any Armageddon-style confrontation as might reveal a lack of clout.
A hard line to draw—never mind to walk!
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