With the jobs market as it is currently, it really is a case of take it or leave it in many cases! Claim benefits or work.... And as for holding a gun to their head... don't you worry, the trigger has had to be pulled recently for hundreds of thousands of people.
The public and private sectors should be operating in a state of symbiosis where the Private sector's taxes allows for the Public sector to exist and service the needs of the population at large (although in many economies the private sector also picks up the slack here too, albeit not completely.) As such there should be sympathy both ways, as things stand it very much feels as though the Public sector is being entirely self interested.