Given the fact the country is staring into a financial abyss, I am appalled the teaching unions, who are in charge of our young in their formative years, are at the forefront of industrial action, indicating that self-interest takes precedence over national interest.

While their pensions may be at risk of reduction, it is stupidity to enter into a course of action to destroy the fragile possibility of economic recovery and bring the country to its knees, which means eventually there will be no funds to pay even a reduced pension. Witness Greece.

As a pensioner for 28 years, I can say that for the majority of pensioners it requires a re-assessment of lifestyle to accommodate a reduced income and not expect to carry on as when employed.

The public sector demands will mean redundancies and long unemployment for others, with our national debt, which already exceeds that of Greece, escalating and causing runaway inflation, reducing the spending power of pensions to bare living standards.

The teachers’ action falls within the category of the lemming syndrome.

W H Diment
Church Road
Laindon