WHATEVER wage increase council employees eventually get, I feel that they should consider themselves lucky, because apart from the rubbish collectors who I consider do an unsavoury job and are totally efficient, I cannot say that other staff, particularly office staff, merit any increase, especially as any salary increment will be paid for by council tax payers.

The three per cent which I believe they have been offered seems quite favourable when compared to say, the two per cent my wife received which increased her hourly rate to £4.92 an hour. She works for a large national firm. There is no union. The alternative to accepting is to look for another job.

On the other hand my daughter works for an international firm and the salary review was quite simple some staff were made redundant and those remaining were told there would be no salary increases and they could look forward to more redundancies.

In a non-union environment anyone showing a belligerent nature would find their services were no longer required.

JL

Swindon

(Full name and address supplied)