I'm a public sector worker and, funnily enough a tax payer too. Does this make me self employed? Given that my taxes have also been used to bail out the banking sector and subsidise the various tax allowances, reliefs and concessions offered to the private sector, does that make me a shareholder of their companies too?
No, I didn't think so. Some of the language used in the debate around public and private sector is unnecessarily inflammatory and masks the fact that there are well off and badly off in both. Current circumstances though are providing an excuse for a cynical revision of terms and conditions by many employers in both sectors.
concurrent with average pay little more than frozen (this is to say, real-terms pay cuts). Meanwhile, the public sector has continued to benefit from pre-agreed pay rises and protected pensions
Oh, and I haven't had a pay increase since 2009 despite average inflation pushing 5% over the period....