Taxpayers in Kent are venting their anger at county council staff poised to ballot for strike action over a one per cent pay offer.

There are calls for council staff to "live in the real world" as many private sector workers fear for their jobs.

Our users feel council staff should be glad to have jobs during the economic downturn and be grateful for any pay rise offered.

~ Related article: Read our original exclusive story about the possible KCC staff walkout >>>

Someone who left their name as Disgruntled Tax Payer from Kent said: "I must be in the wrong job. We are in a recession.

"Like most people I don’t know when my employer will be cutting back on staff. Who in their right mind asks for a pay rise when they are lucky to have a job?"

Ian from Maidstone said: "Public sector salaries are more than those for comparable jobs in the private sector and the private sector does not even have the benefit of copper-bottomed pensions.

"They should try living in the real world where liquidations occur all the time. When was the last time a public sector employee lost their job through insolvency?"

But Allan Macdonald, a KCC employee from Whitstable, wrote: "I am on below the average wage and expected to work my 7.4 hours between 7am and 10pm seven days a week as the need arises.

"I get no overtime payment for any extra hours I do, just time in lieu, which I am not allowed to build up.

"But on a good note, our KCC bosses and executives are helping the cause by forgoing their bonuses this year. Wow."

• What do you think about the possible action? Is it right for public sector workers to strike over pay during a recession?Join our online debate by voting in our poll below and send us your views via the 'Make a comment' tab at the bottom of this story.

The news of the potential strike action has provoked resentment from the TaxPayers' Alliance.

Its campaign manager Susie Squire said: "Many ordinary taxpayers who work in the private sector are facing redundancy and pay cuts.

"It is unfair for them to be shouldered with an ever heavier financial burden to sustain a bloated public sector."

~ Audio: Susie Squire tells kmfm why she thinks the potential KCC staff strike action would be unreasonable >>>