THERE has been a predictable response to suggestions that a public sector pay freeze will help Britain out of the recession.

Steve Bundred, chief executive of the Audit Commission, said he believed workers, including those in the NHS and education, would “tolerate”

a wage freeze because they had done well in the last ten years.

He was wrong.

First out of the traps was Chris Keates, general secretary of the teaching union the NASUWT, who said: “The idea that you must have some equity of misery, that because the private sector is suffering, the public sector must too, is disgraceful.”

Next came Brian Strutton, for the GMB, who warned: “Any interference is bound to be disruptive and could lead to unnecessary calls for industrial action.”

Of course, the Government has to be fair to people who work in the public sector. The roles they perform help make the UK a better place to live.

But when workers in the private sector are facing not just wage freezes but actual wage cuts, why should the public sector escape?

The average secondary headteacher earns £69,000 per year, a primary head gets £50,000. And a primary school teacher earns an average of £30,400 a year compared to £33,400 in secondaries.

Compared with many private sector jobs, those are already good salaries.

And workers in the public sector are the only people who can look forward with absolute certainty to a gold-plated pension when they retire.

Alistair Darling has already intimated that a pay freeze may be on the cards. Anyone who doesn’t agree can always opt to join the real world.