I SEE the unions are up to their old tricks again, trying to bring down the Government with mindbogglingly ridiculous disputes.

Our love affair with trade unions was lost years ago when we saw how we were haemorrhaging industry back in the 1970s.

As a direct result of strike action and demands from trade unions we have seen the disappearance of the coal mines and car manufacturing (which is only just recovering, slowly, albeit because they will not tolerate the trade unions on their shop floors).

The latest is the greedy demands from school teachers who, for far too long, have had gold-plated pensions that many people in this country could only dream of. What on earth makes them think that their pay should be far and above that of a soldier who risks life and limb defending this country?

And why do people come out with the same old mantra about teachers working hard, when the truth is they work far less than most, with 9am to 3pm working days, six weeks’ holiday in the summer, countless inset days for supposed training, which is often set just before a half-term so they get an extra day. I have lived opposite a school for 25 years and this extra school activity they talk about is non-existent. The car park is empty by 3.05pm and it’s like the Mary Celeste.

In a recent survey the results revealed that the overwhelming majority of teaching staff were female. If they are married it means that there are two wages going into one household, coupled with two sets of pensions and most probably two Government pensions as well.

I think this greedy lot should realise they are being subsidised by people in the private sector who will not receive such pensions themselves.

SE IRELAND, Maybush, Southampton.