by business editor Trevor Sturgess

A business chief has called on striking public sector workers to abandon any further industrial action.

Jo James, chief executive of Kent Invicta Chamber of Commerce, which has more than 1,000 member firms, said they were in a privileged position and strike would hit the businesses that funded their pensions.

She understood the anxiety of teachers and others in the public sector but there had to be a different way of solving the problem

They depended on wealth generation by business to fund their pensions.

Private sector workers had suffered steep cuts in their pensions.

"If the public sector were striking because of job cuts, there might be more sympathy from the private sector because it means cuts in services," she said.

"But by striking on pensions when the private sector has never been in that privileged position anyway, that sympathy is not there."

She urged public sector workers to think again about further strike action.

"There has to be other ways of getting their message across. We in the private sector have been hit from day one and we've all got to play our part."