The Tory press (9 May) has puffed a report from Tory thinktank Policy Exchange, claiming that public sector workers have huge advantages over private sector workers.
Dave Prentis, general secretary of Unison, has pointed out that the figures are fiddled.
"A whole swathe of low paid workers such as school cooks, cleaners and NHS porters are now employed by private companies. Overwhelmingly the lowest paid workers are always the ones contracted out to private companies...
"These figures have been further distorted by the inclusion of employees of nationalised banks in public sector earnings statistics...
"In addition a higher proportion of public sector employees are now professionals or graduates - for example one in five is a teacher. The Office for National Statistics reveals in its labour force survey that 8.6% of private employees are graded as professionals, whereas these form 24.5% of public employees...
"The report also claims that public sector employees work shorter hours than private sector workers - again entirely misleading - the statistical difference arises from the fact that there are more part-time jobs in the public sector than in the private..."
It remains a fact that unions are generally stronger in the public sector than in the private, and that union strength improves workers' conditions a bit.
The Tories want all workers levelled down to the plight of those with no, or very weak, union organisation. The union movement must fight to level up to the conditions won by the best-organised.