Government politicians are terrified of strikes in the broader public sector. This is most probably because public sector unions represent large numbers of voters which no politician ever wants to alienate, even if they know the demands are unreasonable and a threat to state finances. The government almost always gives in, aware that it will not come under any criticism from opposition parties which invariably side with unions for electoral reasons.

The threat of strike – or dynamic measures as the unions like to call the blackmail – has the politicians go on a mad search for ways to appease the workers, without completely giving in to them. The ongoing dispute over CoLA is a case in point. When the unions insisted on the restoration of the 100 per cent value of CoLA, the president came up with the idea of ‘CoLA for all’ as an alternative, which employers’ organisations refused to even discuss. A three-hour work stoppage was staged by the unions as a warning while they also made the threat of a general strike, if their demand was not satisfied. Government ministers are now involved in talks with both sides to find a ‘compromise’.

Meanwhile, teaching unions, which object to the evaluation system their employer, the education ministry, wants to introduce in public schools, on Thursday announced they would take action to prevent its approval by the legislature. Primary teachers authorised the leadership of its union Poed to take all necessary measures, while secondary school teachers union, Oelmek spoke about strike measures. The education minister, to her credit, has held her ground, refusing to make the changes to the proposed evaluation system that union bosses were demanding, as the system would be ineffective. With parliamentary elections on the horizon the political parties would not dare state the obvious – the evaluation system is the employer’s prerogative and unions cannot veto it.

Things have now come to a point at which the government has only one option – let all the unions stage strikes. This will cause disruption in education and have adverse effects on the economy, but this is nothing that cannot be managed. The majority of people that will be inconvenienced by the strikes will turn against the unions, especially in view of their unreasonable demands. Will a shop assistant on minimum wage feel any sympathy for smug teachers that do not want their work evaluated, or for civil servants wanting a pay rise whenever the cost-of-living index rises?

The government will do a great service to the country if it stops trying to please the unions and allows them to strike. It is the only way to stop the strike threat from being used so frequently by teachers, civil servants, state hospital doctors and nurses. This selfish public sector workers need to be shown that the government cannot be held to ransom by strike threats.