Last Friday, a Cityclean employee was interviewed for the Meridian South news programme. The interview was about the current situation of wages and conditions in the contracts of Cityclean staff, which Brighton and Hove City Council is seeking to change.

Almost inevitably this has resulted in a ballot for strike action beginning tomorrow, and lasting for a week.

When the Cityclean employee was asked how much she earns, she stated £18,500 a year.

How can anybody be expected to live on such a low wage, especially in Brighton?

She went on to tell the interviewer that if – or should that be when – the equal pay legislation, or single status pay review, is implemented, she could lose £3,000 a year.

This is not an enviable position for her or her colleagues to find themselves in.

Having been involved in strike action myself in the past, including the fabled “dirty jobs strike”, one thing I have learnt is that strike action only serves to polarise positions. What settles disputes is negotiation and compromise.

After six weeks of the “dirty jobs strike” we ended up with only half of what we had demanded – at some cost to us, too.

So did we win?

Mr CR Tidey, Alfriston Close, Whitehawk

I think those in charge should put on their gloves and go out and do the job for them.

If you have your own business, as my family does, and someone goes off sick, we get stuck in and help out where needed.

So why can’t those sitting behind the desks taking complaints from residents put the answerphone on, put on a high-vis jacket and do the job for them?

I’m sure they get paid a lot more than those on strike anyway.

Let’s have our money’s worth because you’re still charging us an awful lot for no service.

And not just for the day to get your picture in the paper, but until all our refuse has gone and the binmen are back at work.

Problem solved, eh?

Sharon Daye, The Cliff, Roedean

Senior council staff have the power to reduce the earnings of other council employees. They should not be exempt.

As I see it, staff earning £20,000 a year or less should keep all their earnings; a pro-rata reduction of 6% should apply to all staff who earn above that amount.

With the present arrangement, the rich keep and the poor pay.

K Stubbs, Denmark Villas, Hove