Public sector workers to sacrifice their pensions

[Sysman]

That view is rather out of date. Civil Service/Public sector pay is at least on par with the private sector these days. The argument they put forwards to justify the change was it was required to hire suitably skilled people.

This trend was starting in the early 90s. A mate in the local council was already looking into car lease schemes as a way of attracting staff, using the same argument. Previously, nobody except the mayor got a company car out of the council.