Why is it, that whenever you mention 'civil servants' - so many people conjure up the bowler-hatted-pin-striped-suited Whitehall mandarins that spend their days strutting around Westminster while waiting for their gongs and their gold plated pensions?

The reality is that the vast majority of civil servants - the men and women who guard our borders in Calais, the HMRC staff stationed in Dover and the people who staff our local pensions and benefits offices, are mostly on very low incomes indeed.

There was a time when the modest incomes and long hours were compensated for by security of employment, but not any more. The Tories say that if they are elected they will start making immediate cuts to public services. The Lib Dems are recommending swingeing cuts and although Gordon Brown is promising to protect front line services, a re-elected Labour Government won't insulate civil servants from efficiency drives and job losses.

This is the background to the current dispute which has seen thousands of public service workers and PCS members withdrawing their labour and picketing their offices. Perhaps I should declare an interest here because I'm a founder member of the Parliamentary PCS Group and since 1997 I've been working with the union fighting for better conditions.

When Customs jobs in the port were under threat I brought Treasury Ministers down to Dover to meet the union and consequently we saw off the redundancies.

When the Regional Manager of Jobcentre Plus closed down the Deal Office I took PCS members up to Westminster to put their objections to Ministers and although we were too late to save the office we secured important assurances for jobseekers in Deal.

And when Management wanted to privatise all the HMRC security functions at Priory Road I led a union delegation to lobby the Treasury Minister and together we succeeded in retaining the in-house security guards at the site.

These were some of the local campaigns in my constituency but this week's industrial action has been nationwide because the plans to cut compensation packages affects nearly everyone. No one likes going on strike but thousands of hard working public sector workers are angry at seeing their long fought for conditions of service being ripped up.

They are angry because the changes are being imposed on them without meaningful negotiations and under the changes, they face losing up to a third of their entitlements and tens of thousands of pounds if they are forced out of their job.

Slashing entitlements and cutting jobs on the cheap will damage public services and lead to more disputes. Instead, management should be working to reach an agreement that protects existing members' entitlements.

During past disputes I've made a point of joining the local picket lines to show my support but my parliamentary duties kept me in London this week so I teamed up with the PCS picket line outside the House of Commons. The Westminster picket was made up mostly of security guards and office workers - and there wasn't a single bowler hat to be seen.

© Hawkinge Gazette and Channel Coast News 2010