THE anonymous letter ("Vote him off") from a trades unionist, referring to my recent disapproving comments about the recent UNISON union strike by some council staff contained misleading muddles which deserve a response.

I also take issue with your Opinion column's comments about the same matter on March 31. There is nothing disrespectful about me calling the strike a waste of time or in me not saying what I think about the strikers. I believe a majority of the public who actually understand the issues agree with me. The strike was a waste of time because there is no chance of the Government backing down about the revised pension scheme for council-workers to retire at 65.

Indeed, most people will be required to retire at 65 or later. Pensions already take up a major proportion of current council tax bills. If council pension schemes are not revised, council tax will have to rise even higher to pay for future pensions.

The letter also bizarrely digressed into unrelated or unfounded criticisms about me.

In fact, I have attended most of the relevant public and private events to help the Save Westbury Hospital campaign. These include several town and district council meetings, the town march last year, the candle-lit vigil and several important campaign meetings.

I never referred to "fat cat union reps". I mentioned "union reps" and "union fat cat bosses", the latter meaning the highly-paid union chiefs in London who led the strike but who could not strike themselves.

R Hawker West Wiltshire District Councillor, Independent, Westbury