I WAS very disappointed when my daughter brought home a letter last Thursday, advising that Okehampton College will be closed because of strike action this week.
Many people have been affected by the current economic situation, that has been caused by our government spending more than it earned for a number of years, and the problem has been very apparent in Okehampton with the closure of two major employers in recent months.
We have all been encouraged, as a community, to contribute towards the support of families affected by unemployment and the level of support from everyone has been very encouraging.
Our own family finances have deteriorated over the last two years, indeed my wife was made redundant today. Yet despite a reduction in income of over 50% and the loss of three-quarters of our pension investments, we have made regular contributions to the Okehampton Food Bank.
It is very frustrating to see that the staff, at what must be one of the largest employers in the town, have such selfish disregard for others in the community by taking strike action because of a threatened small reduction in their own pensions.
Everyone in the country is going to have to make sacrifices to ensure that the economy recovers, yet many parents will now have to take unpaid leave this week when the college is closed, which will further add to their economic difficulties.
I hope that the NUT and ALT members at the college will reconsider their actions before they cause further harm to the community.
Dean Gardiner
Hillsborough House
Chagford
WE are once again witnessing the bully boy attitudes of the trades unions, in this case against the Government, over the radical changes that are urgently needed to the remuneration packages enjoyed by the public employees.
Most of these employees enjoy incomes and inflation-proof pensions far more attractive than most in private industry, all of which has to be paid for by the public tax payers, many of whom have much lower incomes. This is particularly true of pensioners, where their pensions may have been legitimately frittered away by companies, but who are still expected to pay council tax.
What a great shame it is that these bully boys do not put their might behind getting a more appropriate index-linked state pension, and perhaps stopping companies taking over another, using the taken over pension fund to fill black holes in their own funds. This effectively robs people of the money that they thought that they had invested for their own retirement, and at present it is perfectly legitimate.
R C Blake
Courtlands Road
Tavistock