Sir - I have watched with disappointment as the usual arguments and insults have been thrown about over this last local government pay dispute.

UNISON members are angry precisely because we are not in the same boat as everyone else. We have been offered less than most of the pay deals in the public and private sector not the same and this is after a number of years in actual pay cuts What are we asking for? 50p an hour with the offer loaded towards the low paid. £3.75 a day. Not a lot when you earn £15-16,000 per year.

Are these "real jobs"? Yes home support workers, social workers, rapid response workers, enable the elderly and infirm to stay in their own homes; washing, dressing, feeding, toileting, sometimes in squalid conditions, facing verbal and physical abuse.

The county's social workers guard the vulnerable, help the infirm and those with learning and other disabilities. They help dysfunctional families to stay together.

All of this saves the taxpayer a fortune, because more acute services do not need to be used.

Thousands of teaching assistants work in schools alongside other support staff educating our children. Many county staff worked around the clock in last year's floods.

Oxfordshire county UNISON has worked with the county council to move staff into better locations and changed working patterns and practices that have saved this county millions and we can prove that. We have gone to the Government to help negotiate better budget settlements for all the people of Oxfordshire and succeeded.

UNISON nationally has worked with local government to save billions and that can be proved.

We all pay tax just the same as the rest of the public. All we are asking for is less than the price of three loaves of bread.

Mark Fysh, Branch secretary, Oxfordshire county UNISON