It's quite amazing to hear the vitriol spouted by so-called professional pilots here.
Yes, ATCO's are essentially public servants but I don't know too many ( if any ) public servants who can serve over 3 years of their life to study & then get failed at the final hurdle. The failure rate in ATC is very close to 50%. I don't think this happens in the pilot fraternity, even with mummy & daddy's money to give them their commercial pilots licence.Most students enter this profession between 18-20 & have NO outside experience. Try picking up a job at 23 with NO qualification & an extremely specialised experience..good luck.
If ATC was put in the private sector you could definitely expect to pay a lot more for the service but alas the pilot fraternity looks only into their own microcosm that is their cockpit. Keep looking at the stewardesses boys, one day you might have enough intellect to look outside the cockpit.