It is long past time that the public should be hearing both sides to strike disputes

It seems that strikes in Northern Ireland are set to escalate significantly now.

We report today that civil servants appear likely to join in the wave of industrial action sweeping the UK.

They consider a formal pay offer that they have been given as "offensive".

This is yet another example of the public sector joining the picket line. Various branches of such employees want pay rises of up to 19%. They are quick to assure us that pay is not the only issue, that there are others too.

There certainly are issues other than salary, and it is high time that Stormont politicians brought some balance to this matter by raising them. Here are few starting points. Even in NI, with its large public sector, 70% of employees are in the private sector.

There they are much more likely to face things such a performance management and indeed job loss for falling short in their work competency.

It is almost unheard of for some types of public sector employee to face sanction in this way for shoddy work.

Private sector workers almost never now get pensions remotely as generous as those in the public. In fact the latter will typically retire on an occupational pension twice as valuable as someone paid the same in the former. This is another example of the employment package that is outside of direct pay, and which greatly benefits the public sector.

And public sector pay is much higher in NI than private. Yet private sector workers pay the same tax rates, and help to fund the more generous terms of their public sector counterparts.

There are of course fine and dedicated workers across every part of the public sector and as a society we are lucky to have them. They often have very legitimate employment complaints.

But there are two sides to this debate and it is high time we started hearing the other side.