The prospect of a city workers’ strike that will shut down many services next week is infuriating. So who should we be furious with?

Mayor David Miller tops the list. With a recession in full swing and key labour negotiations underway, Miller and band of fellow hypocrites on council pushed through pay raises for themselves in April. This means the city is definitely not bargaining from a position of strength as it seeks concessions from its 18,000 indoor workers and 6,200 outdoor workers.

City demands for concessions are further discredited by other recession-era settlements with employees of the Parking Authority, Toronto Housing, Toronto Hydro, the police, firefighters and the TTC.

Workers in all those cases got at least a three per cent annual pay increase in contracts that will last three to five years. It should come as no surprise that inside and outside workers are fighting to keep what they have.

That said, many Torontonians who have been battered by the tough times will have little sympathy for municipal employees who could be on the picket line by Monday.

In all fairness, however, municipal employees should not be the only ones required to endure some pain when the city is grappling with lower tax revenues and higher welfare costs. In an ideal world, everybody would do their bit.

But this is the real world. Workers have come to believe that an unused sick day is, by right, an end-of-career holiday. Staff and councillors defend pet projects regardless of their merit. Taxpayers balk at any hint of service reductions or tax hikes. And the city’s mayor — who should be in the vanguard — most certainly does not lead by example.

Infuriating? Yes. Something to remember during the next municipal election? Definitely.