Last updated 11:40, Wednesday, 16 July 2008

An indication of how important someone’s job is tends to come when they stop doing it. Closed schools and libraries. Disrupted bin collections and care services. Today and tomorrow Cumbria cannot fail to notice the enormous daily contribution made to its smooth running by thousands of local authority workers.

They will be notable by their absence when up to 15,000 walk out in a row over pay.

It is easy to sympathise with their grievances. As the cost of living continues to soar, thousands of council employees have been offered a far-below-inflation pay rise of 2.45 per cent. Many have jobs whose responsibility is barely recognised by their pay packet.

Unions want six per cent. The pay dispute has become a saga whose prospect of an early conclusion is not helped by the highest inflation rate for 16 years.

However, even the strongest cause is weakened if fighting that cause hurts innocent victims.

Industrial action is seen as a last resort for people who feel frustrated by powerlessness. Each worker must make their own decision on whether such a stance is justified.

Those who will suffer this week, such as schoolchildren and the elderly, hold no great influence. Their only power may be in turning public opinion against the workers whose strikes have disrupted their lives.