AS A fellow worker in the private sector, I have some sympathy for John Phillips (Letters, June 2).

However, in the public sector pensions there already is a fair system. The pension schemes are viable and affordable. A deal was made in 2006 that dealt with the issue that people are living longer and contributions were raised.

When he talks about private-sector workers not getting pensions, many did have final-salary schemes which were abolished on the grounds that companies claimed they couldn’t afford them.

These are the same private companies who have seen their executive pay go up by 49 per cent, whose billionaire owners have seen their profits increase by five per cent this year and the same companies such as supermarkets that rely on working tax credits so they can get away with paying their workers low wages when they are making huge profits.

These strikes raise the issue that we should all get good pensions. It is unfortunate that he and other people adopt the view “if I don’t get it, why should they?”

What private-sector workers should be doing is arguing why their companies can’t introduce fair affordable pension schemes when they are making so much profit.

Ryan Ward, Green Lane, Strensall.