Rank: Guest 
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Rank: Guest
|
Posted By John Murgatroyd
That's a council for you.
They don't have to cost-cut, and there's always someone elses mate that wants a job.
Lets face it, a recent report stated that the government offices (national and local) are about 50% over-staffed.
So, they use 4 people to change a light bulb ?
No.
They use 4 people to check the bulb is not illuminated then ask for tenders to change it.
|
|
|
|
|
|
Rank: Guest
|
Posted By John Murphy
What a well informed reposte from Mr Murgatroyd. I am sure he has more gems like this to contribute but perhaps they are best placed in the Guardian or better still, the Dandy.
|
|
|
|
|
|
Rank: Guest
|
Posted By John Murgatroyd
Obviously a civil servant.
And like the rest, not too civil and not much service.
It goes with the index linked, contribution free pension rights.
And don't laugh at the "4 to decide it isn't illuminated" joke, because it wasn't a joke.
The staff are not allowed to change bulbs or fluorescent tubes. They call in a contract electician, permanently "on call".
Yes, I cried with joy when the chancellor said 40000 civil service jobs had to go, about time that load of underworked wasters had a taste of what the rest of us have had for decades.
And I don't read the guardian.
Can't afford it and it's too full of "gay teenage asian male outreach worker" jobs...in the civil service, of course. Where else ?
|
|
|
|
|
|
Rank: Guest
|
Posted By John Allen
Wow get your knives out for civil servants time! As someone who left the civil service almost twenty years ago because of the poor pay, conditions and public esteem in which we were held I can comment from both sides of the fence. I can certainly see no evidence of any improvements since then, if anything it has got worse.
There is an old saying pay peanuts and you get monkeys. There is no point in criticising standards in public service when there is little or no incentive for anyone with ability or ambition to join. Successive governments and their allies in the rabid press have done much to reduce public service to the poor level of standards we see today with sullen, unqualified and unmotivated staff (Did anyone notice the HSE were on strike yesterday?).
There are still a few people left in public service who are dedicated including no doubt some who read/contribute to this forum. Until we value public service again in this country and are prepared to pay for people of quality to join and contribute there is no point to carping or picking up on single issues to prove a general point (a common tabloid/bar-room fallacy).
Finally if private companies are so good why do so many go bust, make huge losses, defraud their investors, fail to follow the simplest safety rules or kill and injure their employees or customers?
|
|
|
|
|
|
Rank: Guest
|
Posted By Alec Wood
This is surely more a result of our increasing affection for solicitors than health & safety. Many organisations are going "over the top" in certain areas because of a perceived risk of litigation, and the public sector is no different.
The cost-benefit analysis inherent in the more usual approach to risk assessment is not applicable in the public sector because there is no real limit on the money spent. Overspend leading to an operating financial loss just becomes "a budget deficit", not closure and redundancy like it does in the real world.
This means that the cost of any control is measured only against a perceived possible compensation payout and not restricted by the more usual parameters of a truly fixed (and insufficient) amount of available money to be spent where it is most needed. In such a situation, ridiculous levels of expenditure are quite easy to justify and thus attract the ridicule in the press that they truly deserve.
John, you forgot the six more on a £50K fact finding mission to somewhere nice and warm to study lightbulb illumination in foreign climes!
|
|
|
|
|
|
Rank: Guest
|
Posted By John Allen
So there is no surcharging and disqualification of councillors, no public auditor or rate capping? Why is it that people focus on the overspends of councils and overlook the billions in public funds that pour into private companies’ defence contract overspends? And don’t say that market forces ensure efficiencies. The largest firms manipulate the market and use their influence to enforce near monopoly conditions so their extravagances go unpunished.
I’ve been on a lot more jollies as a private employee than I ever was in public service. When I was in the civil service every sheet of toilet paper had “government property” printed on it and was absolutely the cheapest available. Even today civil servants have to pay for every cup of tea or coffee; its not provided free of charge like it is in every private company I’ve ever worked for even as a contractor. A couple of years ago one of the safety advisers I worked with left the company I was with to join the HSE. I told her to take in her own coffee and milk. She didn’t believe me – the day after she joined she phoned me astonished to confirm it was true.
Like safety, you get the level of public service you pay for. If you are not prepared to pay for it then don't criticise when it fails to perform or goes off at an irrelevant tangent.
|
|
|
|
|
|
Rank: Guest
|
Posted By Jim Walker
The discussions here make even more sense if you are aware of Doncaster council's past.
Private Eye readers will know well of "Donnygate".
Also due to poor management systems they have been responsible for two deaths resulting from electric shock (see HSE "name& shame"). Fortunately for them it was a few years ago, if it happened today I think they would be seeing manslaughter charges.
|
|
|
|
|
|
Rank: Guest
|
Posted By Ken Taylor
Just for the record, I seem to recall that local government employees are public servants and not civil servants and that they have to pay something like 6% of their salary to their pension scheme each month.
|
|
|
|
|
|
Rank: Guest
|
Posted By Zyggy Turek
On behalf of the "load of underworked wasters", which I assume I must be one if Mr Murgatroyd says so, I wonder how he or his family would manage if the elderly or infirm were not being cared for, or their children not being educated?
I deal with employees who could easily earn more in their local supermarkets, yet have to deal with the most challenging members of society with the daily threat of physical and verbal violence.
Public sector workers are not by any means perfect, but as they are in the public eye are an obvious easy target, especially for those who wish to enjoy our claims culture & are eager to swell the coffers of some solicitors such as "Sue, Grabbit & Run".
I am proud to work with many dedicated and underpaid workers, so please don't tarnish everybody with the same brush.
|
|
|
|
|
|
You cannot post new topics in this forum.
You cannot reply to topics in this forum.
You cannot delete your posts in this forum.
You cannot edit your posts in this forum.
You cannot create polls in this forum.
You cannot vote in polls in this forum.