A great deal of sound and fury was generated by yesterday’s Strike by public sector workers but many people will today be scratching their heads and asking what exactly was it all about?

The big Day of Action has come and gone and it caused many people a great deal of inconvenience but ultimately will it have made any difference?

The answer would seem to be almost certainly not. It allowed the unions to claim mass support for what they claim was the biggest concerted action since the General Strike in 1926 but the actual level of support among rank and file union members is debatable, to say the least.

Many of the ballots on which the strikes were based enjoyed lower turn-outs than the General Election. Unite, for instance, boasted of a 75 per cent majority in favour of a strike but only 31 per cent of its members actually took part in the vote.

It was hardly a ringing endorsement of the action and that picture was supported on the day with many examples where, for instance, teachers went in to schools as normal but schools could not open because others weren’t there.

The problem for the unions is that sympathy is unlikely to be very high because the vast majority of people in the private sector have already seen their own pensions devastated and their retirement age increased. And they haven’t enjoyed the job protection, the flexible hours and restrictive practices that many public sector workers have benefited from over the years.

Few would argue that those in the public sector are getting anything but a raw deal at the moment. But it is no different to that which many in the private sector have already had to endure and accept.

There is likely to be little in the way of sympathy around for strike action at a time when everybody can see the state the country is in and the fact that it is getting worse rather than better. All of us are having to swallow bitter pills and it is difficult to make a case that public sector workers should be treated any differently to private sector ones.