I've been a state employee ~ briefly ~ and I've also been a taxpayer who has had a variety of experiences with public employees, some good and some bad.

Heroic firefighters and cops, of course, deserve every penny they get and more. Lazy and unhelpful paper-pushers at the Department of Motor Vehicles, on the other hand, get no sympathy from me or anyone else. Which group is more typical of public employees as a whole?

In the US, at least, taking a job with the government entails settling for a modest rate of pay in exchange for good benefits, guaranteed annual raises, and near-absolute job security. Unions have undoubtedly played a role in reinforcing the positive aspects, but public employees in non-unionized areas seem to be doing OK, and they always have ~ even back before organized labor ever got involved with government workers.

In general, I oppose right-wing promotion of business interests at the expense of the ordinary citizen, and I am especially nauseated by their efforts to persuade small business operators to vote against their own interests as consumers and private citizens in the effort to protect corporate profits.

In this case, however, I can't work up a whole lot of sympathy, let alone outrage, on behalf of the civil servants. If anyone can convince me otherwise, please give it a try.