A three-day strike that may hit holidaymakers needing swift passports is starting.

Nearly 3,000 passport staff will leave their posts in a row over pay and the Government’s office closure programme. The strike will hit the UK’s seven regional passport offices and 68 interview offices, the Public and Commercial Services Union (PCS) said.

The stoppage – which comes at the start of the school holidays – means that anyone who discovers their passport has expired may have to miss their holiday.

For an extra charge, new documents can usually be obtained in one day but this service will be unavailable during the strike. Travellers waiting for ordinary passport applications to be processed will also face delays.

The protest is over a 2.5% pay deal. The sum has not been awarded to all staff, with longest-serving employees receiving no pay rise for the fifth year running. Yahoo News

This is completely typical of our media. The above quote from Yahoo News is similar to many others in newspapers, websites and broadcasts about this story. They all start with highlighting the inconvenience of the strike to the British public before explaining why the strike is taking place.

This is how they trick us into thinking that strikes are unnecessary or more of hassle than its worth. It is not until the fourth paragraph in the article that the reasons why that amount of staff will be walking out. And it is announced as though there has been no warning or that the public are being made to suffer.

In some instances the public does suffer; like when teachers, nurses or emergency services go on strike. But if you cannot prepare yourself for travel by checking your passport at an adequate time to get it renewed, then its not anyone else’s fault.

This kind of attitude in the media encourages the public to think of people who strike and stick up for themselves as troublemakers. We should be supporting their cause, not begrudging them because unorganised people won’t be able to get a passport!

Even with teachers, nurses and such; these people provide us a service that they should be rewarded accordingly for – and should have the support of the public that they get paid according to their skills. How dare the media, and indeed anyone else, ignore the fact that the people who teach our children, look after our sick and elderly and attend to us in dangerous situations need to live themselves. And with the rate of inflation making it difficult for the majority of us to support ourselves and our families, it cannot be overlooked that we still need these services.

Coming back to the story above, 2.5% is not even in line with inflation and yet the staff who have served the longest time with the organisation has not even been awarded it. What the hell gives them the right to pick and choose who they give rises to? Its obviously not based on length of service (which is SHOULD) so it must be the quality of their work, but loyal staff should at least be recognised for their commitment to the organisation. The shocking thing about this

The people who work in the public sector do us all a service and we would do well to remember and recognise their work. The media and its brainwashing tactics try to make everything seem like a scandal and rarely give us cause to unite together to stand up for what it right for people in this country.

This is why we will suffer – divided we fall.