I read of the public sector workers’ protest in Dorchester about so called frontline cuts (Daily Echo, September 30).

In the jobs section of that very same edition we find examples of continued public sector employment opportunities.

For example: Bournemouth council urgently needs a participation officer on £24,000 to £27,000, while another body is looking for an equality and diversity advisor on £12,000 to £14,000 for a 20 hour week.

If I were one of the Dorchester protesters I would be asking my public sector employers why their jobs are threatened while these kinds of positions are still being advertised.

I think I can provide an answer which might be illuminating for those readers of a generation that has not experienced a forced contraction of public sector spending.

The last time an incoming government had to pull the nation back from the brink of bankruptcy was in 1979.

Then, as now, the public sector sought to protect their jobs, pensions, perks and privileges, as well they might.

The tactics they used were exactly as they are now: deliberately cutting front-line ‘visible’ jobs while protecting the town hall jobs of managers.

That way they score a propaganda victory over the government while protecting their own jobs in town hall.

That’s why your local council can afford a participation officer but you likely won’t be able to get your bin emptied!

Alan Jenkins, Ridgeway, Poole