Who was at the demo today?

Most private companies aren't publicly listed, so they don't have shareholders, so they aren't about making them richer. Private companies include a massive amount of small businesses, which create jobs, and pay massive taxes which provide income for the public sector.

We all pay taxes, even teachers and nurses.

I do work 'for the people' (I serve people, and I am good at my job, which I take seriously) as do millions of people in the private sector.

I'm not doubting you are excellent at your job, I apologise if it came across that way. But this is more of an ideological point about the private sector as a whole, not you individually.

Whatever the projections, pensions are a massive stone around young people's necks. There is a huge demographic crisis facing us, and it's going to get massively worse. There's no way that the pensions system can handle the average age rising into the 80s and way more people living more than that, maybe spending 10 years in care homes. People are never going to be able to provide for 30+ years of retirement, including maybe 10 years of invalidity. The Government doesn't have the money either. We are all fucked. The only solution is working longer. Unless you want to talk about mass acceptance of euthenasia, or 90 year olds moving back in with their children (or even grandchildren!) It doesn't really matter whose fault it is, ultimately, as whoever's it is, isn't going to be held responsible, or magically solve the problem.

Actually, projections show that the current system for the people that have currently signed up for it is sustainable, new employees don't get the same pension as existing workers, that's already been changed. This concerns people that signed up 30 years ago and are now being told it will change for them. I agree newer workers like us will have to work longer, but people approaching 60 shouldn't have to do that yet.

I would be in favour of parity in pay and conditions between private and public sectors, but there are few instances where both provide the same things, so comparison is difficult. I don't necessarily buy the sweeping generalisation that public sector workers earn less than private sector workers. It's not comparing like with like. Many private sector workers are experiencing pay cuts, so right now, that would be parity. It can't make sense for a struggling private sector which is making cuts to fund the growth of the public sector. The money has to come from somewhere.

I would be in favour of equality in pay too! Many public workers accept the lower pay because of the benefits they receive. If these benefits are removed, who will work in the public sector? Who will do the jobs that need doing but don't make any profit, so can't be privatised? Thats a rhetorical question....